BJP-ruling Gujarat has got its first woman Chief Justice as judge Sonia Gokani was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court on February 16. Notably, she will be at the helm only for ten days as she will get retired on February 25, through which she will etch a history of serving as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court for a shortest tenure.

Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath of office to Justice Sonia Gokani at Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar. Supreme Court judge Justice Bela Trivedi, Gujarat Assembly Speaker Shankar Chaudhary, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, and State Law and Justice Minister Rishikesh Patel were present on the occasion. 

Justice Gokani's appointment was approved by the Centre on February 12 and she had been serving as Chief Justice-designate since February 13. Justice Gokani had replaced Chief Justice Aravind Kumar, who was recently elevated as a judge of Supreme Court. After swearing in, Justice Gokani has become the 28th Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court. 

She will retire on February 25 after serving a top judicial post only for ten days. Justice Gokani was born on February 26, 1961, in Jamnagar, Gujarat. She started her judicial career as an advocate and she worked with various organisations for the cause of the women, children, and downtrodden people, and also for the cause of environment. 

Gokani had also served as a part-time lecturer at Shri KP Shah Law College in Jamnagar and was a member of the district consumer disputes redressal forum for nearly five years. She was a judge at the city civil and sessions court in Ahmedabad and presided over many civil and criminal matters. She also worked as a judge for the special court set up under anti-terror laws, and conducted important matters from 2003 to 2008. 

She also worked as a special judge for cases investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Gokani was elevated as the additional judge of the Gujarat High Court on February 17, 2011, and confirmed as a permanent judge on January 28, 2013. Ten years later, she has now been elevated as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court and her tenure will come to an end in ten days.