Akil Kureshi

Hon'ble Chief Justice (Retd.)
Akil Kureshi
38th Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court
In office
12 October 2021 – 6 March 2022
Nominated byN. V. Ramana
Appointed byRam Nath Kovind
Preceded byIndrajit Mahanty
Succeeded by
5th Chief Justice of Tripura High Court
In office
16 November 2019 – 11 October 2021
Nominated byRanjan Gogoi
Appointed byRam Nath Kovind
Preceded by
Succeeded byIndrajit Mahanty
Judge of Bombay High Court
In office
14 November 2018 – 15 November 2019
Nominated byRanjan Gogoi
Appointed byRam Nath Kovind
Judge of Gujarat High Court
In office
7 March 2004 – 13 November 2018
Nominated byV. N. Khare
Appointed byA. P. J. Abdul Kalam
In office
2 November 2018 – 13 November 2018
Appointed byRam Nath Kovind
Preceded byR. Subhash Reddy
Succeeded by
Personal details
BornAkil Abdul Hamid Kureshi
(1960-03-07) 7 March 1960
EducationB.Sc. (Mathematics) and LL.B

Akil Abdul Hamid Kureshi (born 7 March 1960) is an Indian retired judge. He is a former Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court[1] and Tripura High Court.[2] He has also served as a judge of Bombay High Court and Gujarat High Court, and as an Acting Chief Justice of the latter.

Career

Justice Kureshi passed B.Sc. (Mathematics) in 1980 and LL.B. in 1983. He joined the Bar and started his legal practice in the Gujarat High Court from July 1983. He was appointed the Additional Central Government Standing Counsel from March 1992 to March 1998 and the Additional Counsel for the Income-tax Department in January 2000 where he represented Income Tax Department in the Gujarat High Court up to December 2001. He was appointed an additional judge of the Gujarat High Court on 7 March 2004 and became a permanent judge on 12 August 2005.[3][4]

Kureshi was appointed Acting Chief Justice of the High Court of Gujarat on 2 November 2018.[5] He was transferred to the Bombay High Court on 14 November 2018.[6] He took oath as the Chief Justice of Tripura High Court on 16 November 2019.[7]

On 9 October 2021, he was appointed the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court and took oath on 12 October 2021[8][9] and retired on 7 March 2022[10] without being elevated to Supreme Court of India. His non elevation to supreme court was matter of great debate as he was denied elevation inspite of year long tussle in supreme court collegium, whose member Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, blocked all collegium appointments[11] until his retirement in August 2021[12] for want of Justice Kureshi's elevation to supreme court.[13]

References

  1. ^ "Rajasthan High Court". hcraj.nic.in. Retrieved 20 January 2026.
  2. ^ "HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI". High Court of Tripura. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  3. ^ Upadhyay, Sparsh (9 October 2021). "Centre Notifies Appointment Of Justice Akil Kureshi As The Chief Justice Of Rajasthan High Court". LiveLaw. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  4. ^ "Justice Akil Kureshi takes oath as the new Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court". The Hindu. 12 October 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  5. ^ AK, Aditya (2 November 2018). "Now, Centre appoints Akil Kureshi J as Acting Chief Justice of Gujarat HC". Bar and Bench - Indian Legal news. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  6. ^ "Shri. AKIL KURESHI". High Court of Bombay. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Breaking: Centre notifies appointment of Justice Akil Kureshi as Chief Justice of Tripura High Court". Bar and Bench - Indian Legal news. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  8. ^ "Akil Kureshi sworn in as Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice". The Indian Express. 13 October 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  9. ^ "Transfer Order of Shri Justice A A Kureshi, CJ, Tripura HC as CJ Rajasthan HC" (PDF). Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice. 9 October 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  10. ^ Singh, Paras Nath (5 March 2022). "As Chief Justice of Rajasthan HC, Akil Kureshi retires on Sunday, his non-elevation to the Supreme Court may well certify his independence". The Leaflet. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  11. ^ Leaflet, The (3 July 2021). "SC's working strength comes down to 26 judges against sanctioned judge strength of 34; No Collegium recommendation since Aug 2019". The Leaflet. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  12. ^ "Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman exit may give collegium space to discuss Supreme Court judge picks". The Times of India. 13 August 2021. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  13. ^ "Justice Kureshi, Who Sent Amit Shah to CBI Custody in 2010, Finds no Place in SC Collegium | NewsClick". NewsClick. 19 August 2021. Archived from the original on 7 February 2025. Retrieved 22 February 2026.