The Supreme Court collegium headed by CJI N V Ramana has recommended the names of eight judges for their elevation as chief justices of different high courts. The names of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Satish Chandra Sharma have been recommended for appointment as chief justices of high courts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, while the name of Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi has been recommended for appointment as chief justice of Karnataka High Court. The three-member collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, has decided to recommend names of judges for elevation as chief justices of the high courts of Allahabad, Calcutta, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Meghalaya, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
The names of Justices Justices Prakash Srivastava, Ranjit V More, Aravind Kumar and R V Malimath have been recommended for appointing them as chief justices of high courts of Calcutta, Meghalaya, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The three-member collegium, dealing with appointments in high courts, included Justices U U Lalit and A M Khanwilkar and it has recommended the transfer of Justice Bindal as the chief justice of Allahabad High Court.
Besides, the marathon collegium meetings on Thursday and Friday have led to recommendations of transfer of five chief justices, including that of Tripura High Court Chief Justice Akil Kureshi, and 28 other high courts judges, reliable sources told PTI.
The collegium has recommended the transfer of chief justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court Justice Arup Kumar Goswami to the Chhattisgarh High Court, chief justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court Justice Mohd Rafiq to the Himachal Pradesh High Court. It has also recommended the transfer of chief justice of Rajasthan High Court Justice Indrajit Mahanty to the Tripura High Court and Meghalaya High Court chief justice Justice Biswanath Somadder to the Sikkim High Court. The collegium has recommended that Justice Kureshi be transferred to the Rajasthan High Court.
Justice Bindal of Calcutta High Court has been in news recently due to his administrative and judicial decisions in matters related to a political stand-off between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. Justice Kureshi, one of the senior-most high court judges in the country, was originally elevated as a judge in the Gujarat High Court and has been in news due to his non-elevation as a judge of the apex court.
The series of recommendations have been made close on the heels of a historic decision to recommend 68 names in one go for judgeship in 12 high courts across the country. Prior to that, in a historic decision on August 17, the five-member Collegium headed by the CJI had recommended nine names, including three women, for elevation as judges of the Supreme Court. The names were cleared with significant pace by the Union government, leading to the swearing-in ceremony on August 31 when the new judges were administered oath of office as apex court judges.
The fresh recommendations assume significance in view of the statement made by the CJI in a recent function of the Bar Council of India that it has been his endeavour 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 that 90% of vacancies will be filled.
After assuming charge as the CJI in April this year, Justice Ramana has recommended nearly 100 names for appointment to different high courts, sources said. The 25 high courts of the country have a combined sanctioned strength of 1,080 judges and on May 1, 2021, the high courts were functioning with 420 judges only.