Arham Jain
At the age of 78, Justice Vinod Kumar Gupta, the first Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court and a highly esteemed jurist, died on February 15.
Justice Gupta was born on September 10, 1947, and completed his early schooling in Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh before graduating from Delhi University with an LL.B.
Before becoming the State’s Advocate General, he practiced before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court after enrolling as an advocate with the Delhi Bar Council on July 23, 1970. He began practicing law in the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir before assuming the significant position of Advocate General for the State.
He joined the Jammu and Kashmir High Court as a judge in 1990, and in 1996, he was assigned to the Calcutta High Court.
Upon the division of Bihar to form the new state of Jharkhand in 2000, he was appointed Acting Chief Justice of the newly established Jharkhand High Court. His official appointment as the first Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court came shortly after, on December 5, 2000.
He proceeded with his legal career after being moved to the Himachal Pradesh High Court in March 2003, where he held the position of Chief Justice till February 2008.
He became the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court on February 2, 2008. He remained in this prestigious role until September 9, 2009, when he retired.