Gorakhpur Distt Judge will be the new Principal Secy (Law): UP

The Allahabad High Court was today told by Uttar Pradesh government that a decision has been taken to appoint senior judicial officer Rang Nath Pandey, currently the District and Sessions Judge at Gorakhpur, as the new Principal Secretary (Law) of the state.
A special seven-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud was apprised of the state government's decision to fill up the post which had been lying vacant for the past several months much to the displeasure of the High Court. The state's Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan also appeared before the court and offered his "unconditional apology" for having stated in his affidavit that the post had been lying vacant on account of lack of response from the High Court to communication from the state government in this regard.

The court had, on the last date of hearing on April 26, pulled up the Chief Secretary for making the submission while pointing out that as per records, the High Court had sent its response to the state government's letter suggesting names of judicial officers considered eligible for the post and that the same had been received by the top bureaucrat himself who had made his own endorsements on the note. The seven-judge bench, which has been reviewing arrangements of security and safety in courts across the state, accepted the Chief Secretary's apology, issued directions to the state government for installation of CCTV cameras and bio-metric cards at the High Court here and its bench in Lucknow and fixed May 25 as the next date of hearing on the matter.