Orissa HC Gets its 33rd Chief Justice

Justice Subhasis Talapatra, Judge of the Orissa High Court, on Tuesday, took oath as the 33^rd Chief Justice of the High Court, following the retirement of the former Chief Justice, Dr. S Muralidhar.

The oath of office was administered to him by Prof. Ganeshi Lal, the Governor of Odisha.

The appointment of Justice Talapatra as the Chief Justice had been recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium last month and subsequently received approval from the Central Government.

Born on October 4, 1961, in Udaipur, Tripura, Justice Talapatra pursued his studies in Arts and Law at the University of Calcutta. He became a member of the Bar Council of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh on September 12, 1990.

His legal practice primarily revolved around the Agartala Bench of the Gauhati High Court, where he handled a variety of constitutional, civil, and criminal cases. Notably, he achieved the designation of a Senior Advocate on December 21, 2004.

Justice Talapatra’s judicial journey continued as he took his oath as an Additional Judge of the Gauhati High Court on November 15, 2011. Later, on September 13, 2013, he was appointed as a Permanent Judge of the Tripura High Court. In the capacity of Acting Chief Justice, he led the court on two occasions: firstly, from November 2, 2018, to November 13, 2018, and secondly, from November 11, 2019, to November 15, 2019.

Subsequently, he was transferred to the Orissa High Court on June 1, 2022, and formally assumed his duties on June 10, 2022.

Justice Talapatra’s term as the Chief Justice will be relatively brief, spanning less than two months, as he is set to retire on October 3, 2023.