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Rajesh Bindal is an Indian judge who was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court on 10 February 2023. He served as the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court, Acting Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, and Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court.
Wiki/Biography
Rajesh Bindal was born on Sunday, 16 April 1961 (age 62 years; as of 2023) in Ambala, Haryana. His zodiac sign is Aries. He did his schooling at S A Jain Senior Model School, Ambala. He pursued a bachelor’s degree in commerce at Panjab University, Chandigarh. In 1985, he pursued LLB at Kurukshetra University, Thanesar, Haryana.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 5″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
There is not much information available about his family.
Wife & Children
His marital status is unknown.
Career
After completing his studies, he joined the Punjab and Haryana High Court on 14 September 1985. In 1992, he started working in the Central Administrative Tribunal. From 1992 to 2006, he represented the Chandigarh administration before the Central Administrative Tribunal. He also represented the employees’ provider fund organization of Punjab and Haryana in front of the High Court and Central Administrative Tribunal. He specialised in taxation, constitutional, civil and service cases. He was the standing counsel for the I.T. department and other central and state government organisations. He was also a part of the Satluj Yamuna Water dispute between Haryana and Punjab where he represented Haryana before the Hon’ble Eradi Tribunal and Hon’ble Supreme Court. He was appointed as a permanent judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on On 22 March 2006. He started working as the chairman of the computer committee and arrears committee of the court. In the same year, he gave a judgement with justice B.S. Walia on Punjab scheduled caste and backward classes (Reservation in Services) act. In the judgement, they stated 20% of reservations in promotions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in C and D category government services and 14% in A and B category government services. On 26 October 2018, he was recommended to be transferred to the Madras High Court, but after his request for reconsideration to a high court in North India, he was transferred to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. On 19 November 2018, he was appointed as the judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, the common high court for the union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. On 9 December 2020, he was appointed as the acting chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court by the then president Ram Nath Kovind. On 5 January 2021, he was transferred to Calcutta High Court as a judge through a nomination from the CJI Sharad Arvind Bobde. In the order, the Ministry of Law and Justice said,
In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 222 of the Constitution of India, the President, after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, is pleased to transfer Shri Justice Rajesh Bindal, Judge, Common High Court for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh, as a Judge of the Calcutta High Court.”
On 29 April 2021, he was appointed as the acting chief justice of the Calcutta High Court. On 27 June 2021, the Bar Council of West Bengal appealed to CJI N. V. Ramana for removal due to “interference in fair and impartial dispensation of justice” after which he was removed from the position. On 11 October 2021, he took oath as Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court. On 10 February 2023, he was appointed as a judge to the Supreme Court of India along with Justice Aravind Kumar, Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court. The names were recommended to the collegium on 31 January 2023. On 6 February 2023, five other judges were appointed as a judge in Supreme Court including Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal, Patna High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Karol, Manipur High Court Chief Justice PV Sanjay Kumar, Patna High Court judge Ahsanuddin Amanullah, and Allahabad High Court judge Manoj Misra.
Facts/Trivia
- In 2017, he gave a judgment on a case against a petition challenging the Bar Council of India (BCI) rules (2006). In the petition, filed by lawyer Virender Pal Sharma, he questioned the use of the terms ‘Your Honour’ and ‘Honourable Court’ in the Supreme Court and High Courts and the word ‘Sir’ used in subordinate courts and tribunals. The case was solved because the petitioner could not give proper evidence for his complaint.
- In April 2018, he submitted a report on the Civil Aspects of the International Child Abduction Bill when he was the chairman of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. In the report, he also gave suggestions for the protection of children (Inter-Country Removal and Retention) Bill.
- When he was serving as a judge in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, he solved around 80,000 cases and was a member of committees including the Computer Committee and Arrears Committee.
- In November 2018, he submitted another report to the Supreme Court which was based on framing rules for electronic evidence.
- In October 2019, he gave judgement about begging in Jammu and Kashmir. The judgement came after advocate Suhail Rashid Bhat filed a petition against the J&K Prevention of Beggary Act (1960) and Prevention of Beggary Rules (1967). In the petition, he stated that anti-begging laws were “unconstitutional” and violated articles 14, 15, 20 and 21 of the Constitution. In judgement, Bindal said that begging in Jammu and Kashmir was decriminalised.
- When he was working as the acting chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, he was also the chairman of the finance committee, building and infrastructure committee, information technology committee, state court management systems committee in the High Court and also Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir state legal service authority. He also served as the chairman of the committee that conducted assessments for the optimal use of technology by NALSA and the State Legal Services Authorities. He also gave suggestions for the existing framework of Lok Adalats and how the ADR mechanisms can be improved for the poor.
- In 2021, he attended the ‘Full Court Welcome reference’ ceremony organized at Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court and talked about how the pending cases in Allahabad High Court since 1974 could be solved. In the conference, he said,
We all know that the Bar and the Bench have to work together, they are two wheels of the same chariot….. We will work together, and we will be able to serve the litigants in society.”
- In June 2022, he met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at Gitapress in Gorakhpur where he talked about the use of technology in solving cases. In the meeting, he said that the number of pending cases is high in Allahabad as it is the largest city, but the bar and bench were working to solve the cases with the help of technology.
- In December 2022, he removed a jamadar from the Allahabad court when he got to know that he was Paytm UPI inside the court to receive tips. The worker had pasted the OR code on his uniform to receive money in form of Dakshina.
- The All India seniority of High Court judges is number 2.
- Reportedly, he is the seniormost Judge from Punjab and Haryana High Court.