For the first time, Jammu and Kashmir is getting its very first woman Chief Justice of High Court. Justice Gita Mittal will head the J&K High court, who was the Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court till now.
A notification was issued by the Department of Justice of the Union Ministry of Law and Justice on Friday, where the President appointed Justice Sindhu Sharma as the first woman judge of the J&K High court.
After the retirement of Chief Justice of J&K Badar Durrez Ahmad in March, the post has been vacant since. Now it will be occupied by a woman CJ for the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir.
Justice Mittal has an illustrious history of work in the legal field. She was appointed as an Additional Judge of Delhi High Court on 16th July 2004. Later on 20th of February, 2006, she was made a permanent judge.
She has been a member of the Governing Council of the National Law University, Delhi since 2008. Justice Mittal is a member of the Governing Council of the Indian Law Institute, New Delhi since 2013 and has been nominated to its Administrative Committee, as reported by Delhi State Legal Services Authority.
She has written on ‘Access to Justice’, her other topics include– “protection of human rights; impact of incarceration on women; corporate social responsibility; death penalty; impact of religion, culture, tradition on judging; corporate laws; procedure and intellectual property litigation and environmental laws and issues,” as reported by The Quint.
Justice Mittal was bestowed upon by Nari Shakti Puruskar, India’s highest civilian honour for women in 2018 by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind.
She has been involved in various committees, some of them being Committee Against Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place; Working Conditions and Welfare Committee For Judicial Officers/staff of High Court and District Courts, among others.