AOR Sibo Sankar Mishra & Judicial Officer Ananda Chandra Behera Take Oath As Judges Of Orissa High Court

Advocate-on-Record Sibo Sankar Mishra and Senior Judicial Officer Ananda Chandra Behera took oath as Judges of the Orissa High Court on Tuesday.

Their names were recommended by the Collegium of the Supreme Court comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Sanjiv Khanna on August 17, 2023. The Presidential warrants of their appointment were notified by the Union Law Ministry on Saturday.

While recommending the name of AOR Mishra, the Collegium had observed, 

"He has a sizeable practice at the Bar which is reflected in his average professional income. The inputs received from the Government indicate that he has a good personal and professional image and nothing adverse has come to notice with regard to his integrity."  

Similarly, while recommending Behera, the top judicial appointment body gave due consideration to the fact that he was the 14th senior-most Judicial Officer of the State and recommending his name will result in overlooking the candidature of 13 officers senior to him.

"We have also taken note of the fact that the proposal for elevation of Shri Ananda Chandra Behera, involves non-recommendation of senior judicial officers. We have duly taken note of the reasons recorded in the minutes of the Collegium of the High Court for not recommending their names. We are in agreement with the views," stated the Collegium statement.

With their joining, the High Court shall have a functional strength of 22 against the sanctioned strength of 33 Judges. However, it will come down to 20 again upon the retirements of Justice Biswanath Rath tomorrow and Chief Justice Subhasis Talapatra on October 3, 2023.