The Government of India on Friday last issued a notification for appointment of acting Chief Justice of Kerala High Court, Justice Hrishikesh Roy as the Chief Justice of the High Court.
The notification (No K 13024/5/2018-US.I) reads as: “In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of article 217 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Justice Hrishikesh Roy, Judge of the Kerala High Court, to be the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office.”
The notification was shown as signed by Rajinder Kashyap, Joint Secretary to the Government of India on August 3, 2018.
Justice Hrishikesh Roy was appointed as Acting Chief Justice of the High Court of Kerala with effect from May 30, 2018, consequent to the retirement of Chief Justice Antony Dominic.
Justice Roy’s parent High Court is Gauhati and he was the senior most Puisne Judge of the Gauhati High Court and was also the Judge-in-Charge of the Administrative Department (JAD).
Roy graduated in law from the Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi in 1982, and was designated as a Senior Advocate by the Gauhati High Court in December, 2004.
For several years, he served as the senior government advocate for Arunachal Pradesh and was the standing counsel for the Assam State Electricity Board and the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council.
He was then sworn in as an Additional Judge in October, 2006, and was made permanent in July, 2008.
The Arunachal Pradesh Legal Service Authority, under his leadership, produced ‘Apne Ajnabi’, a short film on racial discrimination and the ways in which legal help can be provided to such victims.
As the Executive Head of the Assam State Legal Services Authority, Justice Roy implemented the Reach Out and Respond programme to facilitate access to justice for the marginalized people of Assam.
The Assam chapter of the Indian Law Institute (ILI) was also under his charge.
Besides, for the past eight years, a newsletter called ‘Atman’ has been published under his editorship in the Gauhati High Court.