Know About Justice JK Maheshwari, Newly Appointed Supreme Court Judge

He was enrolled as an Advocate with the State Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh on November 22, 1985 and practiced in Civil, Criminal,Constitutional, Service and Tax matters in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh mainly at Gwalior Bench and Principal Seat at Jabalpur and the Supreme Court of India.

Justice Maheshwari was elevated as Additional Judge of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh on November 25, 2005 and made permanent on November 25, 2008.

On October 7, 2019 Justice JK Maheshwari was transferred as the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court and assumed office on October 07, 2019. He was the First Chief Justice of the newly established Andhra Pradesh High Court. He was transferred as the Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court on January 5, 2021.

During his tenure as the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court, Justice JK Maheshwari had resolved 4620 cases.

Monitoring CoVID Management

While Justice JK Maheshwari was the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court, the division bench headed by him had directed the Central and State Governments to ensure that the health workers have necessary personal protective equipment.

Directions for creating temporary sheds for walking migrants, and to ensure their travel by bus/train within 48 hours of registration with the nodal officers were also passed by a bench headed by Chief Justice J K Maheshwari.

The bench led by him also kept a close watch of CoVID management by the State of Sikkim during the second wave while he was appointed as Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court. During his tenure, Justice Maheshwari directed the state to take all necessary steps to augment its resources to meet the situation of Covid-19 pandemic on a "war footing".

"We do not see nor are we provided with a rational and planned thinking process. Emergent situations seem to have been met on need basis," the bench led by Chief Justice Maheshwari had commented with respect to management of the Covid-19 crisis in the State.

SOP For Investigation In Cases Of Missing Person

During his tenure as a Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court, Justice JK Maheshwari while dealing with a case related to a 14-year-old girl who is missing since June 2013 directed the State Government and Director General to come up with an SOP in the matter of missing persons including children.

He also directed for the SOP to contain the course of action required to be followed by the Investigating Officers and their team and if violated, responsibility must be fixed on such Investigating Officers.

State's Duty To Implement Relevant Policies For Benefit Of Senior Citizens

In the Suo Moto Public Interest Litigation regarding construction of old age homes in Sikkim, a bench led by Chief Justice JK Maheshwari had observed that it is the duty of the State Government to produce the relevant policies of the State Government with the directives of the Central Government for the benefit of the Senior Citizens of their State.

Suo Moto Cognisance of leak of 'Styrene' gas in Vizag, Andhra Pradesh

The Bench headed by Chief Justice JK Maheshwari while taking suo moto cognizance of the leak of 'Styrene' gas in Vizag, which had resulted in a number of casualties had issued a slew of directions to the State Authorities some of them being directing the Government to:

• Take "immediate steps" to bring down the effect of gas leak by sprinkling water or other substances which may curtail further damage by requesting deployment of fire services from nearby areas
• Simultaneously repeatedly checking gas leakage
• Appointing a Committee of officers not below the rank of Principal Secretaries to monitor the activities and filing compliance report

The bench had also permitted the seven South Korean employees of LG Chem Ltd., parent company of LG Polymers India Ltd - which was the source of leak of styrene gas near Visakhapatnam - to leave India.

Freedom Of Speech Includes Right To Opt Medium Of Instruction In Mother Tongue

In Dr. Srinivas Guntupalli v. State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors. , bench headed by Chief Justice JK Maheshwari passed a noteworthy judgement in which it quashed the Government Orders seeking to implement English as a compulsory medium of instruction at primary level in all the Government Schools in the state. The High Court held that the option to choose medium of instruction in school education is a fundamental right. "Medium of instruction in which the citizen can be educated is the integral part of the Right to Freedom of Speech and expression," the bench had remarked.

NOTA Not Available When There Is Single Candidate Contesting Elections

In AV Badra Naga Seshayya v. State of Andhra Pradesh while hearing a Public Interest Litigation to declare the State Election Commission's action in not conducting any election to any post of local governing body where there is only a single candidate as violative and unconstitutional observed that the option of NOTA could not be made available when there is a single candidate contesting in the elections, and the candidate shall be declared as unanimously elected.

Commuting Death Penalty Of Youth In Minor Rape-Murder Case

In Reference (Received From II Additional Sessions Judge Khurai, District Sagar) v. Sunil Adiwasi, the bench headed by Chief Justice JK Maheshwari while commuting the death penalty of imposed on a youth accused of rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl had observed that, "The record indicates that he was left by his mother and residing alone, therefore, the accused was the first offender living separate from his family at the age of 21 year and the probability of his being rehabilitation and reformation is there, cannot be ruled out. Nothing is available on record to suggest that he cannot be a useful member of society."

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