In a resolution released on Thursday, the Supreme Court Collegium suggested Justice Sonia Gokani be named the new Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court. If her appointment is approved, Justice Gokani, who is scheduled to retire on February 25, would become the first female Chief Justice (CJ) of the Gujarat High Court.
A SC Collegium resolution from January 31 recommended that current Chief Justice Aravind Kumar be elevated to the Supreme Court, making the position vacant as a result.
The Collegium recommended Chief Justices for Gujarat as well as four other high courts where vacancies are anticipated to occur soon because their current Chief Justices have been recommended for promotion to the supreme court.
The Collegium’s recommendation for Justice Gokani, who is the senior-most judge of Gujarat HC, notes that “the appointment of Ms Justice Gokani as Chief Justice will bring a sense of inclusion and facilitate a representation for Judges drawn from the services in the office of Chief Justice.”
Noting that with her retirement nearing, the Collegium’s recommendation should be processed “on priority”, the Collegium observed that Justice Gokani has “good credentials and is fit and suitable in all respects for being appointed as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Gujarat.”
Justice Gokani would be the 28th Chief Justice of Gujarat HC.
Born in Jamnagar, Justice Gokani started off as an advocate and joined the judiciary in 1995 directly in the cadre of district judges as a judge of the city civil & sessions court, Ahmedabad, presiding over civil and criminal matters.
She served as the special judge of TADA court and was also the first to be appointed as a POTA court judge in Gujarat in 2003, hearing the Sabarmati train burning case at Godhra that occurred in 2002 and spurred state-wide riots until the SC stayed the trial.
As a TADA court judge, Justice Gokani in 2007 had sentenced seven accused to life imprisonment for the murder of former Congress (I) Rajya Sabha MP Rauf Valiullah in 1992. The conviction was subsequently upheld by the SC. Justice Gokani, as a POTA judge, also presided over cases including the Akshardham terrorist attack case, where she awarded the capital punishment to the accused, and BJP ex-home minister Haren Pandya murder case, convicting 12 for murder and conspiracy while sentencing nine of them to life imprisonment until death, pronouncing the judgement inside the Sabarmati Jail.
Two days before the prosecution was going to take to trial the case of the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh before Justice Gokani, who was the then POTA designated judge, she was transferred as Registrar (Recruitment) at the Gujarat HC in 2008. She went on to serve as Registrar (IT & Infrastructure) thereafter, before being elevated as an additional judge of the Gujarat HC on February 17, 2011.
She was confirmed as a permanent judge on January 28, 2013. The Collegium comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph recommended Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, who is the senior most Judge of the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court (HC), be appointed the Chief Justice of Manipur HC.