Late night salvage: Justice AK Mittal appointed Acting Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court [Read Notification]

Controversies surrounding judicial appointments seem to have no end. In a notification issued late at night, the Central government has appointed Justice AK Mittal as Acting Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court.

The notification was published a few minutes back.

Justice Mittal takes over from Justice SF Vazfidar who retired from office today.

The Collegium had recommended Justice Krishna Murari on April 19 for appointment as Chief Justice of the High Court. Despite the same, the Centre is yet to issue any notification to that effect.

Further, no notification was issued regarding appointment of an Acting Chief Justice till a few minutes back.

This had led to chaos in the Registry, with the Registrar Judicial writing a letter to the outgoing Chief justice, seeking directions on listing of matters which are to be heard by Division Bench – I, which is headed by the Chief Justice.

The letter stated that no communication was received regarding appointment of Chief Justice or Acting Chief Justice with effect from tomorrow. Hence, the Registrar judicial solicited orders from Justice Vazfidar for listing of the cases before Division Bench – I.

Justice Vazfidar had, however, turned down the request stating that he does not want to arrange the roster for the period after his retirement.

Read the notification below.