Collegium wants retired district judge appointed High Court judge

New Delhi, April 14

Setting a precedent, the Supreme Court Collegium has recommended a retired district judge for appointment as judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The three-member Collegium of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice KM Joseph recommended the name of Roopesh Chandra Varshney, a senior member of the Madhya Pradesh Higher Judicial Service, for judgeship of the High Court. Prior to this, Justice Baharul Islam (1980) and Justice Fathima Beevi (1989) were appointed apex court judges after they had retired as High Curt judges.

“Having regard to the above and the legitimate expectation based on the long period of service rendered by him, the Collegium is of the considered opinion that Roopesh Chandra Varshney is suitable for appointment as a judge of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh,” the Collegium said in its resolution dated April 12.

Besides Varshney, the Collegium recommended the names of Anuradha Shukla, Sanjeev Sudhakar Kalgaonkar, Prem Narayan Singh, Achal Kumar Paliwal, Hirdes, and Avnindra Kumar Singh for judgeship of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

Referring to the Intelligence Bureau report, the Collegium said Varshney had a good personal and professional image and that nothing adverse had come to notice against his integrity. His judicial performance, as assessed by the Evaluation Committee, was very good and the annual confidential reports of the candidate were noteworthy, the Collegium stated.

It said on the date of the recommendation by the Collegium of the high court, he was about 59.10 years of age and had since retired from judicial service on reaching the age of superannuation. He had joined judicial service on September 28, 1987. It noted that on the date of the vacancy against which his name has been recommended, his age was 58.03 years and so qualified with reference to the prescribed age criterion.