The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the acting Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, Gita Mittal, for the appointment as the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. The Collegium comprises of Chief Justice Dipak Mishra, Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Madan B Lokur. Justice Mittal is the senior-most Judge from the Delhi High Court and has been functioning as the acting Chief Justice in that High Court since April 2017.
“Having regard to all relevant factors, the Collegium finds Ms. Justice Gita Mittal suitable in all respects for appointment as Chief Justice of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court, and resolves to recommend that she be appointed as Chief Justice of that High Court,” read a resolution of the Supreme Court Collegium.
“While making the above recommendation the Collegium has taken into consideration the fact that at present there is only one Chief Justice from Delhi High Court which has the special status of being the High Court for the national capital.”
After the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed demitted his office in March this year, the office of Chief Justice for the J&K High Court has been lying vacant since then.
Born on 9 December, 1958, Justice Gita Mittal was appointed as an Additional Judge of Delhi High Court on 16 July, 2004. Prior to her appointment as Additional Judge, she had an illustrious legal practice in all the courts and other judicial forums since 1981. Justice Mittal was confirmed as a permanent judge on 20 February, 2006.
Since August, 2008, Justice Mittal has been a member of the Governing Council of the National Law University, Delhi. She is also a member of the Governing Council of the Indian Law Institute, New Delhi since 2013 and has been nominated to its Administrative Committee.
Justice Mittal has written extensively on ‘Access to Justice’; protection of human rights; impact of incarceration on women; corporate social responsibility; death penalty; impact of religion, culture, tradition on judging; corporate laws; procedure and intellectual property litigation and environmental laws and issues.
The report of the Justice JS Verma Committee, constituted in the aftermath of the 2012 Gang Rape case to suggest amendments on Criminal Law has extensively drawn from the pronouncement in Virender v. Stateauthored by Justice Gita Mittal.
She has designed the Vulnerable Witness Courtroom Project in the Delhi Trial Courts, which led to the first such court room in India being inaugurated on 16 September 2012. She received the Distinguished Alumna Award in 2008 from the Vice President of India, awarded by the Lady Shriram College for Women.