President of India today appointed Justice Rajesh Bindal, senior-most Judge of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court as an Acting Chief Justice of that High Court.
The notification dated December 8 has been issued pursuant to the retirement of Chief Justice Gita Mittal.
Justice Rajesh Bindal was born on 16th April, 1961 at Ambala City in the State of Haryana (India). He did LL.B. from Kurukshetra University in 1985 and joined profession in High Court of Punjab & Haryana in September 1985. He represented Chandigarh Administration before Central Administrative Tribunal for more than a decade till 2004. He represented Punjab & Haryana regions of Employees Provident Fund Organization before the High Court and Central Administrative Tribunal from 1992 till his elevation. He remained associated, on behalf of State of Haryana, in settlement of the dispute concerning Satluj Yamuna Water with State of Punjab before Hon’ble Eradi Tribunal and Hon’ble the Supreme Court. He represented Income-tax Department, Haryana region before the High Court. He was elevated as a Judge of High Court of Punjab & Haryana on March 22, 2006. He remained Chairman of the Committee constituted pursuant to Resolution No. 7 adopted in the Chief Justices’ Conference, 2016 for framing Draft Rules for Electronic Evidence and submitted his report to Hon’ble the Supreme Court in November 2018. Being Chairman of a multi-member Committee constituted by Ministry of Women and Child Development to study Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Bill, 2016, he submitted report accompanied by the recommendations and draft of the Protection of Children (Inter-Country Removal and Retention) Bill, 2018 to the Ministry in April 2018. (https://wcd.nic.in/) During his tenure in Punjab and Haryana High Court, he disposed of around 80,000 cases. Before his transfer to High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, he was heading various Committees including Computer Committee, Arrears Committee. On transfer to High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, he took oath of office on 19th November, 2018. Presently, he is Chairman of the Finance Committee, Building and Infrastructure Committee, Information Technology Committee, State Court Management Systems Committee, in the High Court and also Chairman of J&K State Legal Service Authority. He is also the Chairman of the Committee constituted for conducting assessment for optimal use of technology by NALSA and the State Legal Services Authorities including use of Artificial Intelligence. He is also Member of the Committee constituted to go into the existing framework of Lok Adalats and Mediation and to suggest ways for enhancing operational efficiency and plugging gaps, if any, or better application of these ADR mechanisms for weaker sections of the society. JNF