Supreme Court judge, Justice PC Pant retired today after a tenure of little over three years at the apex court.

Pant J. is one of the few judges to have been elevated to the Supreme Court from lower judiciary.

Pant J. enrolled at the Bar in 1973. He entered into Uttar Pradesh Judicial Service in the year 1976 through UP Munsif Examination, 1973. Thereafter he was promoted to U.P. Higher Judicial Service in 1990, and joined as Additional District Judge in District Bahraich. He also worked as Joint Registrar in High Court of Allahabad.

After creation of State of Uttarakhand, he was the first Secretary, (Judicial), of the State. He also held the post of District and Sessions Judge at Nainital before being posted as Registrar General of High Court of Uttarakhand at Nainital. He was appointed as Additional Judge, of High Court of Uttarakhand in June, 2004, and became permanent judge in February 2008. He was appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Meghalaya in September, 2013 before being elevated to the Supreme Court on August 13, 2014.

At the farewell function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association, Pant J. said that he is retiring as a “contended soul”.

With Justice Pant’s retirement, vacancies in Supreme Court have risen to six.