Gita Mittal

Last updated

Hon'ble Chief Justice (Retd.)
Gita Mittal
33rd Chief Justice of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court
In office
11 August 2018 8 December 2020

In 2019, Mittal wrote to the Supreme Court of India calling for the appointment of additional judges to handle the caseload at the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, noting that the Court was functioning at half its judicial capacity with only ten judges serving instead of the allocated seventeen. [24] Justice Mittal forwarded seven names for the consideration of the Supreme Court collegium, which appoints judges to the High Courts in India. [24] In April 2020, three Permanent Judges were appointed to the Court, bringing the total number of serving judges to thirteen. [25]

Creation of CAT Bench in Jammu and Kashmir

In May 2020, Mittal wrote to the Government of India in her capacity as Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, calling for the establishment of a bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal in Jammu and Kashmir, to hear cases concerning the service conditions of officers in the Indian Administrative Service. [26] [27] In her letter she noted that the passing of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019 had resulted in the need to transfer a number of pending service matters from the High Court to such tribunals. [26] The publication of her letter met with opposition from the Chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Justice L. Narasimha Reddy, who disputed the need for a separate bench in Jammu and Kashmir at that time. [28] In April 2020, the Central Government issued a notification extending the jurisdiction of the Chandigarh bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal to Jammu and Kashmir; however, following criticisms that this would cause difficulties in access, the Government modified its order to create a separate Central Administrative Tribunal bench in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. [29]

Jurisprudence at the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir

On 25 October 2019, Mittal authored a significant judgment in Suhail Rashid Bhat v State of Jammu and Kashmir, striking down the Jammu & Kashmir Prevention of Beggary Act, 1960, a law drawing from colonial legal principles to penalise poverty and public movement. [30] Along with Justice Rajesh Bindal, she held that the criminalisation of beggary violated constitutional principles and constituted a “disproportionate infringement of the right to meaningful life, dignity, privacy and liberty guaranteed under Article 21”. [31]

Tribunals and regulatory bodies

Mittal has served as a member of the Advisory Board constituted under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange & Prevention of Smuggling Act, 1974 (COFEPOSA). [3]

In February 2008, she was appointed the sole judge in a tribunal constituted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 to investigate a ban on the activities of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). [3] As judge, Mittal found that the government did not have grounds to enforce an extension of a previous ban against SIMI, as it had failed to present new evidence to support its argument for the extension. [32] [33] Her decision was stayed soon after by the Supreme Court, allowing the ban on SIMI to continue. [34] [35]

Other activities and awards

Mittal has served on the governing boards of several educational institutions. She has been a member of the Governing Council of the National Law University, Delhi since 2008, and Governing Council of the Indian Law Institute, New Delhi since 2013. [3] [36] She was a member of the Delhi University Court from 1999 to 2004, and was nominated to the governing body of Ram Lal Anand College in Delhi from 1997 to 1999. [3]

Justice Mittal also serves on the editorial advisory board of the National Law University Delhi's Journal of Legal Studies. [37]

In 2008, the Vice President of India, Mohammad Hamid Ansari, awarded Mittal the 'Distinguished Alumna Award' from Lady Shriram College, recognising her contributions to jurisprudence. [3] In 2019, she received the Justice P.N. Bhagwati Award for her contributions towards improving access to justice and for her work in designing and introducing special courts for vulnerable victims in the Delhi High Court. [38]

Criticism concerning Nari Shakti Puraskar

In 2017, Mittal was one of the recipients of the Nari Shakti Puraskar, a civilian honour presented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individuals and organisations contributing to female empowerment. [39] Her acceptance of a government award while serving as a judge led to public criticism and concerns about conflicts of interest and the independence of the judiciary, particularly as it was the first instance of a sitting judge accepting an award from the government. [40] Several advocates and retired judges noted that prior to this, only retired judges had accepted government awards, and argued that her acceptance of a government award ought to disqualify her from hearing cases in which the government is a litigant. [41]

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