Anadi Tewari
Former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Justice Gita Mittal, has been conferred with the prestigious Arline Pacht Global Vision Award for 2021 by the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ).
About The Award
The Arline Pacht Global Vision Award was first presented to Judge Arline Pacht at the banquet concluding the International Association of Women Judges 25th Biennial Conference in 2016 “in recognition of her achievement in founding the IAWJ.”
The International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) then decided that the award would be presented at each biennial conference thereafter, preferably to a sitting or retired woman judge to recognize her long-term contribution to the IAWJ and the IAWJ’s goals.
Criteria For Global Vision Award
In selecting a nominee for the Global Vision Award, her efforts should have or are focused on actions and outcomes that are international in their purpose and long lasting effects. The nominee’s actions also should reflect standards of great integrity and other personal traits that may include but are not limited to the following characteristics:
- Whether the vision and acts of the nominee are original and foster the IAWJ’s goals of promoting and protecting the human rights of and equal justice under the rule of law for all people, but especially for women and children.
- Whether the nominee’s goals and mission are inspirational and intended to improve the lives of substantial numbers of diverse people internationally;
- Whether the nominee perseveres in pursuing her vision, notwithstanding challenges, setbacks and/or discriminatory treatment;
- Whether the nominee reaches out to others internationally in an inclusive manner to develop leaders throughout the world who will continue to carry out a mission’s goals;
- Whether the nominee’s vision, efforts and actions have resulted in accomplishments that have been or can be replicated in other countries.
About Justice Gita Mittal
Born in the year 1958, Justice Mittal tudied law at the Campus Law Center in Delhi, graduating with an LL.B in 1981. She practiced law in Delhi from 1981 to 2004, prior to her appointment as an Additional Judge in the Delhi High Court and was confirmed as a permanent judge in the year 2006.
During her tenure as a High Court Judge, Mittal served on a number of administrative and judicial committees at the Court. She was the Chair of the Delhi High Court’s Mediation and Conciliation Center, and served on committees that dealt with complaints concerning sexual harassment, working conditions, performance assessment of judges in subordinate courts, and judicial training. She also led an initiative to establish special courtrooms for vulnerable witnesses in the Delhi High Court, with the first such courtroom being established in 2012.
In the year 2017, Justice Mittal was appointed as the Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court.
In the year 2018, Justice Mittal sworn in as the First Female Chief Justice and in total 36th Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. Last year, after serving as the Chief Justice for 28 months, Justice Mittal retired.