Supreme Court Collegium recommends 8 names for appointment as Chief Justices of High Courts
The Supreme Court collegium headed by CJI NV Ramana has recommended the names of eight judges, including acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Justice Rajesh Bindal, for promotion as Chief Justices of various High Courts.
Besides, recommendations for transfer of five chief justices, including Tripura High Court Chief Justice Akil Qureshi and judges of 28 other high courts, were made in a marathon meeting of the collegium on Thursday and Friday, reliable sources told PTI.
Justice Bindal of the Calcutta High Court has been in the news recently for his administrative and judicial decisions in matters relating to the political standoff between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.
One of the most senior High Court judges in the country, Justice Qureshi was originally elevated as a judge in the Gujarat High Court and has been in the news for not being promoted as a judge of the apex court.
Sources said the three-member collegium headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana has decided to recommend the names of judges for promotion as Chief Justices of Allahabad, Calcutta, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Meghalaya, Gujarat and High Courts. has decided. Madhya Pradesh.
He said the three-member collegium, comprising Justice UU Lalit and Justice AM Khanwilkar, dealing with appointments to high courts, has recommended the transfer of Justice Bindal as the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court.
He said the collegium has recommended transfer of Justice Qureshi to the Rajasthan High Court.
Sources said that after taking over as the Chief Justice in April this year, Justice Ramana had recommended around 100 names for appointment to various high courts.
The country’s 25 High Courts have a combined sanctioned strength of 1,080 judges and as on May 1, 2021, the High Courts were functioning with only 420 judges. The chain of recommendations has been closed following the historic decision to recommend 68 names at once for judgeship in 12 High Courts across the country.
Earlier, in a landmark judgment on August 17, a five-member collegium headed by the CJI had recommended nine names, including three women, for promotion as judges of the Supreme Court.
The names were cleared by the Center with significant speed, following which the new judges were administered the oath of office as judges of the apex court at the swearing-in ceremony on August 31.
The new recommendations assume significance in view of the CJI’s statement at a recent function of the Bar Council of India that it has been his endeavor to address the issue of vacancies in the higher judiciary on an “urgent basis”.
The CJI had said during the function that in another month, he expected 90 per cent of the vacancies to be filled. Sources said the collegium has decided to recommend transfer of five chief justices and 28 other high court judges to other high courts.
A reliable source told PTI, “The decision on major reshuffle in the High Courts and appointment of Chief Justices has been taken after marathon meetings.” He said that meeting in this regard was held on Thursday and Friday.
The sources said the collegium’s decisions containing the names and details of the judges are yet to be uploaded on the apex court’s website.
Besides Justice Qureshi, the collegium has recommended transfer of Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court Justice Arup Kumar Goswami to Chhattisgarh High Court, Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court Justice Mohammad Rafiq to Himachal Pradesh High Court, sources said.
He said the collegium has recommended transfer of Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court Justice Inderjit Mahanti to Tripura High Court and Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court Justice Vishwanath Somaddar to Sikkim High Court.
Besides Justice Bindal, the collegium also appointed Justices Prakash Srivastava, Prashant Kumar Mishra, Ritu Raj Awasthi, Satish Chandra Sharma, Ranjit V More, Arvind Kumar and R. Sources said.
He said the names of Justice Prakash Srivastava, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi have been recommended as Chief Justices of the High Courts of Calcutta, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Similarly, the names of Justices Satish Chandra Sharma, Ranjit V More, Arvind Kumar and RV Malimath have been recommended for their appointment as Chief Justices of the High Courts of Telangana, Meghalaya, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
The recommendations of the collegium follows the historic decision to recommend 68 names at once to become judges in 12 high courts across the country.
Recently the collegium recommended 10 names to the Center for appointment as permanent judges in the Karnataka High Court.
The CJI, speaking at a recent function of the Bar Council of India, had referred to nine appointments at a time in the apex court bench and said, “Similarly, after I took over, the collegium has recommended, if I I am not wrong. , 82 names to various High Courts.
“I hope the government will ensure that the names are cleared at the earliest the way nine names were approved for the apex court. It is an ongoing process. We are facing the tough challenge of filling up the existing around 41 per cent vacancies. in all High Courts,” he had said.
(with PTI inputs)
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