Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra (P B) Varale was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Karnataka on Saturday.
Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot administered the oath of office to the new chief justice.
Justice Varale was born on June 23, 1962 at Nipani in Belagavi district. After his graduation in Arts and Law from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, he enrolled as an advocate in August 1985. He joined the chamber of advocate S N Loya and practised on the civil and criminal side.
He served as a lecturer at Ambedkar Law College, Aurangabad from 1990 to 1992 and also worked as assistant government pleader and additional public prosecutor at the Bombay High Court bench in Aurangabad and as additional standing counsel for the Union of India. Justice Varale was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court in July 2008 and became a permanent judge three years later.
Justice Varale succeeds Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi who retired as the High Court’s chief justice on July 1.