For the first time, a woman judge has been appointed to the post of Chief Justice in the Uttarakhand High Court. The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Ritu Bahri to be made the Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court.

Justice Ritu Bahri has been appointed in place of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghvi.

Chief Justice Vipin Sanghvi retired in the month of October.  Till now, Justice Ritu Bahri was serving as a judge of the Haryana and Punjab High Court. Ritu Bahri is a native of Jalandhar and belongs to a family of eminent lawyers.

Her great-grandfather, the late Somdutt Bahri, was also a civil lawyer. He practiced law on the civil side and was also a member of the Punjab Assembly from 1952 to 1957. Justice Ritu Bahri's father, Justice Amritlal Bahri, retired as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Early-Life :

Born in Jalandhar in 1962, Justice Bahri did her schooling at Carmel Convent School, Chandigarh, in 1994 and graduated in Economics (Hons.) from Government College for Women, Chandigarh, in 1982. After this, she completed her law studies at Punjab University in 1985.

She enrolled as an advocate with the Punjab and Haryana Bar Council in 1986 and started practicing in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In 1992, she was appointed as Assistant Advocate General of Haryana. Appointed as Deputy Advocate General, Haryana, in August 1999 and as Senior Advocate General, Haryana, in December 2009.

During this time, she looked after land acquisition, taxation, revenue, and labor matters. On August 16, 2010, she was promoted to judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Justice Ritu Bahri was the first woman acting Chief Justice of the Punjab-Haryana High Court. She took over the charge of Acting Chief Justice on October 14, 2023.

Uttarakhand Governor Lieutenant General Gurmeet Singh (Retd) administered the oath of office to Justice Kumari Ritu Bahri of Uttarakhand High Court as the Chief Justice at Raj Bhavan on Sunday.

During this, Chief Secretary Radha Raturi read the warrant issued by the President regarding the appointment of Justice Kumari Ritu Bahri as the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court.