Justice Pankaj Mithal is a judge of the Supreme Court of India. He has served as the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court (2022-2023), Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court (2021-2022) and Judge of Allahabad High Court (2006-2021).
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Pankaj Mithal was born on Saturday, 17 June 1961 (age 61 years; as in 2022) in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. His zodiac sign is Gemini. She did her schooling from St. Mary’s Academy, Meerut, which is affiliated with the Indian School Certificate (ISC) board. Growing up in a family of lawyers, Mithal developed an eagerness to pursue a career in law. In 1982, he earned a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Allahabad University, and in 1985, he completed his LLB from Meerut College, affiliated with Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut.
Family
parents and siblings
His father, Justice Narendra Nath Mithal (deceased), was a civil lawyer who practiced in the District Court, Meerut. Narendra Nath Mithal served as District Government Pleader (Civil) for several years before being elevated as Judge of the Allahabad High Court on 14 December 1978, where he served until 8 April 1992. His mother, Vimal Mithal (deceased), was a law graduate. She established the Justice Narendra Nath Mithal Memorial Foundation Trust to patronize legal education especially for girls. His younger brother Pallav Mithal is a political science teacher.
Pankaj Mithal’s parents, Justice Narendra Nath Mithal and Vimal Mithal
wife and children
His marital status is unknown.
other relatives
His grandfather, Babu Brij Nath Mithal, was a lawyer in Uttar Pradesh. He also served as the honorary head of the law department at Meerut College, where the boys’ hostel of the law department was named BNM Hostel (Brij Nath Mithal Hostel) in his honour. His uncle Raghuvar Dayal Mithal, eldest son of Brij Nath Mithal, was also an advocate enrolled in the Meerut Bar Association. Raghuvar was twice offered the post of judge of Allahabad High Court, but he declined it due to personal reasons.
livelihood
In 1985, he enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh. Initially he worked under the guidance of Sudhir Chandra Verma, who later became a judge of the Allahabad High Court and then the Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh. Mithal mainly conducted civil suits dealing with land acquisition, rent control, education, labor and service and other miscellaneous matters including the Constitution. He served as standing counsel for the UP Housing and Development Council, Lucknow, from 1990 until his elevation to the bench, and as standing counsel for Dr. BR Ambedkar University, Agra, from 1990 to February 2006. On 7 July 2006, he became an additional judge. Allahabad High Court. On 2 July 2008, he was elevated as a permanent judge in the Allahabad High Court. He served on this post till 3 January 2021. From 4 January 2021 to 13 October 2022, he served as the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court.
Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha administering the oath of office to Justice Pankaj Mithal as the new Chief Justice of the Common High Court for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh in 2021 at a swearing-in ceremony at the Convention Centre.
On 14 October 2022, he was appointed as the 40th Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court.
Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra administering the oath of office to Justice Pankaj Mithal as Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court at Raj Bhavan on October 14, 2022
On 6 February 2023, he was elevated as Judge of the Supreme Court of India.
CJI DY Chandrachud administering the oath of office to Justice Pankaj Mithal as a judge of the Supreme Court of India in 2023
Other judges elevated as Supreme Court judges include Manipur HC Chief Justice PV Sanjay Kumar, Patna HC Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Patna HC Justice Sanjay Karol and Allahabad HC Justice Manoj Mishra.
controversies
CPI (M)’s letter to the President demanding removal of Mithal from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh HC.
In 2021, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind demanding the removal of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal over remarks he made on adding the word. The Preamble of the Constitution includes “socialist” and “secular”. Addressing a seminar organized by RSS-affiliated organization Akhil Bharatiya Advocate Parishad, Mithal said,
“The spiritual image of India has been narrowed by the inclusion of the words secular and socialist in the Preamble of the Constitution.”
He further said,
Sometimes we bring amendments because of our stubbornness.”
The letter also said that Justice Mithal “has violated his oath and compromised his constitutional position” by speaking against the Constitution of India.
Facts/General Knowledge
- He was fond of stamp collecting since childhood and also had a keen interest in philately (study of postage stamps).
- He was associated with several committees of the Allahabad High Court and also served as Chairman of several of them, including the Library Committee, the Higher Judicial Services Committee and the committee that supervised the construction of the High Court Museum. Additionally, he was a member of the Sesquicentennial Committee’s sub-committee on coins and postage stamps, which oversaw the issuance of a set of two stamps with photographs of the buildings of the Allahabad High Court and the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court. The Sub-Committee also inspected the release of a set of Rs 150/- coins and a set of Rs 5/- commemorative coins with the logo of the High Court by the President of India on 13 March 2016 during the 150th Inaugural Celebrations. Anniversary of the High Court.
- While posted in Lucknow he also served as Chairman of the State Advisory Board under the National Security Act. Other than this. He was the President of La Martiniere College (both boys and girls wing, Lucknow).
- When Mithal was working as a lawyer, he wrote an article titled “Birth and History of Allahabad High Court”, which was widely published in various local newspapers and law journals. One of his articles on “Lawyers’ Code of Conduct” was published twice in Laws, a law journal published from New Delhi.
- He was nominated twice by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh as a member of the Executive Council of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi. Later, he was nominated as a member of the Executive Council of Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut.
- Mithal is a trustee of the Etawah Hindi Seva Nidhi, which was founded and promoted by the late Justice Prem Shankar Gupta for the promotion of Hindi and other Indian languages.
- In August 2022, while serving as the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, Mithal laid the foundation stone of the Court Complex building and residential quarters at Akhnoor to enhance the infrastructure facilities.
Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal laying the foundation stone of the court complex in Akhnoor
- Pankaj Mithal is also a trustee of the Justice Narendra Nath Mithal Memorial Foundation, which was founded by his mother in his father’s honour.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn