Srinagar: Historic Shift As Ladakh LG To Administer Oath To New CJ Of J&K And Ladakh

The ceremony, scheduled for 11 am. at Srinagar’s lakeside Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC), marks a significant departure from established convention and represents a historic moment in the judicial administration of the two Union Territories.

This will be the first time since Ladakh became a Union Territory in August 2019 that its Lt. Governor—not his J&K counterpart Manoj Sinha—will administer the oath to the Chief Justice of the common High Court. Traditionally, the J&K Lt. Governor has presided over the swearing‑in of newly appointed Chief Justices. However, with Sinha currently abroad, and in light of recent structural changes in the judicial framework of Ladakh, the responsibility has been assigned to Lt. Governor Saxena.

President Droupadi Murmu appointed Justice Bhati, a senior judge of the Rajasthan High Court, as Chief Justice of the J&K and Ladakh High Court on September 5, with his appointment taking effect once he assumes charge. Justice Bhati succeeds Justice Sanjeev Kumar, who has served as Acting Chief Justice since June 2. The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended Justice Bhati’s elevation on August 31, recognising his extensive judicial experience and service since his elevation to the Rajasthan High Court bench on November 16, 2016.

The decision to have Ladakh’s Lt. Governor administer the oath comes against the backdrop of a major institutional development: the regulation enabling a new bench of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh to sit in Ladakh officially came into force on September 5. The Union Cabinet had approved the proposal on August 20, and President Murmu promulgated the Union Territory of Ladakh (Sitting of Bench of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in Ladakh) Regulation, 2026 on August 27. Although the regulation is legally operational, the physical bench is yet to be established and will require substantial logistical and infrastructural arrangements.

The creation of a Ladakh bench is expected to significantly reduce the burden of long‑distance travel for litigants from remote areas who currently must journey to Srinagar or Jammu for High Court matters. In this spirit of decentralisation and judicial accessibility, the symbolic act of Ladakh’s Lt. Governor administering the oath to the new Chief Justice underscores the Union Territory’s growing institutional presence within the shared judicial framework of the two regions.

Justice Bhati brings over three decades of legal practice and judicial service to his new role. His career spans service law, writ jurisdiction, revenue, elections, mining, education, Panchayati Raj, criminal law, and public interest litigation. Before his elevation to the bench, he served twice as Rajasthan’s Additional Advocate General and represented major institutions including the Indian Railways, ONGC, RBI, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, and Jai Narain Vyas University. His academic contributions include nearly two decades as visiting faculty at Jai Narain Vyas University and a year at the National Law University, Jodhpur.

Official sources here said that Justice Bhati’s oath‑taking on September 9 thus marks not only a leadership transition within the High Court but also a milestone in the evolving administrative and judicial landscape of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh—reflecting both constitutional continuity and the emerging institutional identity of Ladakh as a Union Territory.

Meanwhile, the President has assigned Saxena to discharge the functions of the Lt. Governor of J&K in addition to his current responsibilities. This interim arrangement will remain in force during the period of leave taken by Sinha, the Lt. Governor of J&K.

An order issued from Rashtrapati Bhawan states that Saxena will hold the additional charge of the J&K Lt. Governor’s office for the duration of Sinha’s absence. He will continue to perform his existing duties as the Lt. Governor of Ladakh while overseeing the affairs of J&K.