Bhubaneswar: Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh, the most senior judge of the Patna High Court, has been appointed as the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court. The announcement was made by Union Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, who highlighted the appointment of chief justices for six high courts, including Odisha.
President Droupadi Murmu, following consultation with Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, exercised the power conferred by the Constitution of India to make these appointments. The collegium of the Supreme Court had recommended Justice Singh’s appointment in November 2023.
Justice Singh will succeed the current acting Chief Justice Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi of the Orissa High Court, who assumed office on October 4, 2023, following the superannuation of Chief Justice Subhasis Talapatra on October 3, 2023.
The collegium, in recommending Justice Singh, praised his high standard of professional ethics, conduct, and integrity. Justice Singh, who became a judge of the Patna High Court on April 5, 2012, has been the senior-most puisne Judge there. Prior to his judicial career, he practiced law at the High Court of Judicature at Patna, specializing in constitutional, service, criminal, and arbitration matters.
During his 22-year legal practice, Justice Singh also served as the Additional Advocate General for Bihar from December 2010 until his elevation to the bench. His distinguished tenure as a judge of the Bihar High Court includes the authorship of 1246 reported judgments, with 562 delivered in the last five years, as per a Supreme Court communique.