Justice JK Maheshwari appointed as first Chief Justice of Andhra High Court

The government on Thursday appointed Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari of the Madhya Pradesh High Court as the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh. This development came along with the change of chief justices in as many as six other High Courts, as the Centre notified the appointments.

Justice JK Maheshwari is currently a senior judge at the Madhya Pradesh High Court. Justice Maheshwari will be the first Chief Justice of the recently bifurcated Andhra Pradesh High Court. His elevation to this post was proposed by the Supreme Court Collegium in its resolution dated August 22, 2019.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice position was lying vacant since the day of its inception. Following its creation, the High Court which was functioning from the state capital Amaravati, was being headed by the Acting Chief Justice Chagari Praveen Kumar, along with 12 other sitting judges.

Justice Maheshwari has been practicing in Madhya Pradesh High Court from 1985 and had been appointed as a judge of Madhya Pradesh HC in 2005. Justice Ravi Shanker Jha, Acting Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, has been appointed as Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana HC, while Justice Indrajit Mohanty of the Bombay High Court will take charge as Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court.

Justice Arup K. Goswami has been appointed as Sikkim High Court Chief Justice and Justice Ajai Lamba will be the Chief Justice of Guwahati. Justice S. Manikumar of the Madras High Court has been appointed as the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court.