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Justice Sharma entered the profession by joining the Delhi Judicial Service in 1992 and got promoted to the Delhi Higher Judicial Service in 2003. He took oath as a Delhi High Court judge on February 28 prior to which he was principal district and sessions judge, New Delhi (Patiala House Courts).
During his time at Patiala House Courts, he was also the chairperson of the vulnerable witness program committee, formed in light of the 2018 Supreme Court judgement which directed the setting up of vulnerable witness deposition complexes in all district courts. He has been associated with vulnerable witness deposition complex programmes, drafting of the vulnerable witnesses guidelines of Delhi High Court, and the training of stakeholders in the programme organised since its inception in 2010.
As a high court judge, Justice Sharma adjudicates on a roster of cases, including civil writ petitions about labour issues from 2011 onwards, all categories of matrimonial cases, first appeals from the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, among others.
In the wake of the Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdown, Justice Sharma, on April 10, 2020, directed the urgent hearing of cases through video conferencing and directed the computer branch of Patiala House Courts to assist litigants and lawyers in availing this facility. The order was passed in light of the directions of the Supreme Court in a suo motu writ petition on video conferencing in district courts. The order stated while the process of providing video conferencing facilities to the district judiciary through e-courts platform is underway, lawyers and litigants can avail this facility using CISCO WEBEX in the interim period. The order laid down detailed steps on how lawyers and litigants could avail this facility.
Jagdeep Vats, president of the New Delhi Bar Association (Patiala House Courts) told The Indian Express: “It was in his (Justice Sharma) tenure that the beautification of the court complex began. He also oversaw the renovation of the court library and the courtrooms, which were earlier in a shabby condition, and is a member of the building and maintenance committee. He also ensured cordial relationship between the Bar and the Bench was always maintained.” He added that online proceedings during the Covid crisis remained seamless due to the system established under Justice Sharma’s supervision.
According to R K Wadhwa, former president of the association, Justice Sharma is “a dynamic personality” who “believes in speedy trial of cases”. As a principal district and sessions judge, he also oversaw the Covid-19 vaccination facility and worked on the improvement of the canteen in the court premises, Wadhwa said.
About the conduct of judges, Justice Sharma in a June order of the high court observed that “judges have to remind themselves time and again that each conduct is observed and noted by the litigants and therefore, knowingly or unknowingly, they may not act in any manner which gives rise to even slightest of doubt in the minds of the litigants and lawyers”.
He was hearing a custody case of a minor child where the estranged wife had alleged that the family court judge had shared his personal number with both parties, and met with the father of the child in his chamber, which had “unnecessarily given cause for reasonable apprehension of bias”, he observed.
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