Justice Manjula Chellur took oath as the new Chief Justice of the Bombay high court on Monday. She is the second woman to occupy the post, after Sujata Manohar became the Chief Justice in 1994.
Justice Manjula Chellur took oath as the new Chief Justice of the Bombay high court on Monday. She is the second woman to occupy the post, after Sujata Manohar became the Chief Justice in 1994.
Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao administered the oath of office to Justice Chellur at a brief swearing-in ceremony held at Raj Bhavan, Mumbai.
Bombay high court’s Chief Justice D.H. Waghela retired on August 10, following which Ms Chellur was transferred to Mumbai from Kolkata. Incidentally, she was the first woman Chief Justice of the Calcutta high court. Justice Waghela held the post for six months and Justice Chellur is scheduled to retire in 2017.
The governor’s wife Vinoda Rao, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, ministers Vinod Tawde, Chandrakant Patil, Ram Shinde, Jaikumar Rawal and Mahadev Jankar, minister of state Deepak Kesarkar and Acting Chief Justice of Bombay high court Vijaya Kapse Tahilramani were among those present.
Born on 05.12.1955 at Bellary in Karnataka, Ms Chellur got her law degree and started practising as a lawyer in Karnataka, after which she became a district judge in 1988.
She was the first woman advocate to practice at Bellary. She has served as legal advisor for several banks, agro industries, KEB, KMF and APMC. She has handled several important cases both on civil and criminal sides.
Ms Chellur got a fellowship on Gender and Law in 1997 at Warwick University in England. She was later appointed as Additional Judge of the high court of Karnataka on 21.02.2000.
She was also the executive chairperson of the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority. As executive chairperson, she worked for the welfare of transgenders and arranged seminars throughout the state.
On transfer to the Kerala high court, she assumed charge as Acting Chief Justice on 09.11.2011. She became Chief Justice of the Kerala high court on 26.09.2012.
