Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka on Friday took charge as the 30th chief justice of the High Court of Karnataka.
Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, who has been the senior most judge of the Bombay High Court, took charge as the 30th Chief justice of Karnataka with governor Vajubhai R. Vala administering the oath to Oka. The swearing in ceremony happened at the Raj Bhavan. Justice Oka’s transfer from the Bombay HC was notified last month.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 217 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, Judge of the Bombay High Court, to be the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office.”, the Notification dated April 30 reads.
The recommendation of Justice Oka being appointed as the Chief Justice of Karnataka came in the SC‘s resolution of April 8.
Born in May 25, 1960, Oka obtained a B.SC., LLM from Bombay University. He was enrolled as an advocate in 1983 and practised in the Thane district Court after which he went on to practise with his father Shreeniwas W Oka. He was made an additional judge of the Bombay HC in August 2003 and was made a permanent one in November 2005. He succeeded Karnataka HC’s Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari who was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court in January 2019. Acting Chief justice Lingappa Narayana Swamy took charge of the court during the time the position of the Chief justice was vacant.