Eleven judges to retire from Bombay High Court in 2022

Eleven judges are lined up for superannuation from the Bombay High Court in the year 2022, which will bring down the working strength of the High Court from 60 to 49 unless new appointments are made. .If no new appointments are made, the working strength of the High Court will come down from 60 to 49.The sanctioned strength of the High Court in 94..The following are the judges who will be retiring in 2022:.Justice SP Tavade: Appointed on December 5, 2019; will retire on March 4, 2022.Justice SJ Kathawalla: Appointed on July 18, 2008, he was known as the judge who sat well past Court working hours to hear matters. In May 2021, he along with Justice Tavade sat for over 12 hours to hear cases, many of which required urgent intervention. The same Bench in the same week sat beyond midnight to hear a plea filed by former Commissioner of Mumbai Police Param Bir Singh. In May 2018, a day before the vacation, Justice Kathawalla as a single-judge had sat till 3.30 am to finish over 120 matters in day without taking a break. He is set to retire on March 23, 2022.Justice VK Jadhav: Appointed on March 3, 2014; will retire on May 16, 2022.Justice VM Deshpande: Appointed on January 6, 2014; will retire on May 18, 2022.Justice Sadhana S Jadhav: Appointed on January 23, 2012, she was heading the Bench which commuted death sentence of three men convicted in the 2013 Shakti mills gang rape case to life imprisonment. Justice Jadhav is set to retire on June 13, 2022.Justice AK Menon: Appointed on March 3, 2014; will retire on July 11, 2022.Justice VG Bisht: Appointed on December 5, 2019; set to retire on July 18, 2022.Justice SS Shinde: Appointed in March 2008, Justice Shinde was heading the Bench hearing criminal writ assignments from mid-2019 to mid-2021. During this time period, he heard a clutch of 'high profile' cases pertaining to Arnab Goswami in Anvay Naik suicide case and the investigation pertaining to Television Rating Points (TRP) scam case. He granted first medical bail in the Bhima Koregaon case to Telugu poet Varavara Rao and first default bail to co-accused Sudha Bharadwaj upholding their fundamental rights to life and health. Noting the piling up burden of pending trials in lower courts due to the COVID pandemic, he acknowledged that it was the undertrials who were languishing in prisons. These observations were made during hearing of cases where Justice Shinde granted bail to two boys accused of having allegedly joined ISIS. While hearing the bail appeals challenging the orders of the Special NIA Court refusing bail to Bhima Koregaon co-accused Father Stan Swamy, Justice Shinde was informed that Swamy had passed away in Holy Family Hospital. He expressed his condolences while appreciating the services Swamy offered to the society. He however withdrew the comment after it was pointed out that his statement may have been 'misconstrued' in the media. Justice MG Sewlikar: Appointed on December 5, 2019; retiring on September 20, 2022.Justice CV Bhadang: Appointed on March 3, 2014; retiring on November 4, 2022..In addition to these eleven judges, Justice Pushpa Ganediwala's tenure as Additional Judge is set to expire in February 2022 and so far, she has not received any extension or confirmation. Justice Ganediwala was the author of the controversial skin-to-skin judgment in Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act matter which had received a lot of flak with the Supreme Court eventually overturning the same.If her tenure is not extended, the High Court will have twelve empty seats next year.