Advocate-on-Record (AOR) Sibo Sankar Mishra and Judicial Officer (JO) Ananda Chandra Behera on Tuesday took their oaths as new judges of the Orissa High Court, administered by Chief Justice Subhasis Talapatra.
With this, the number of judges in the high court rose to 22, against a sanctioned strength of 33.
However, this number is expected to decrease to 20 following the retirement of Justice Biswanath Rath on Wednesday and the chief justice on October 3.
The Centre had officially notified the appointment of advocate Mishra and senior judicial officer Behera as judges of the high court on September 2. Their names had been recommended by the collegium of the Supreme Court, consisting of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice SK Kaul, and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, on August 17.
Sibo Sankar Mishra, who began his career in 1991, specializes in civil, criminal, and service law. On the other hand, Ananda Chandra Behera has served as a judicial officer in various capacities throughout his career. Mishra also held the position of advocate-on-record in the Supreme Court, where he represented the Odisha government.
