Supreme Court collegium recommends 5 names for judgeship in 4 high courts

New Delhi, January 5

The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud has recommended five names to the Centre for appointment as additional judges in four high courts.

The collegium, also comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna and BR Gavai, also recommended the names of additional judges — justices Rahul Bharti and Moksha Khajuria Kazmi, both from the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, for appointment as permanent judges.

One of the recommendations said additional judge Justice Abhay Ahuja also be considered for appointment as permanent judge in the Bombay High Court.

Several collegium resolutions, uploaded on Thursday night on the apex court website, provided details of the deliberations leading to recommendations of names of judicial officers and advocates for judgeship in high courts.

“The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the name of Chaitali Chatterjee (Das), Judicial Officer, for appointment as Judge of the High Court at Calcutta in the following terms…,” one of the resolutions said.

It also forwarded the names of Arvind Kumar Verma, a judicial officer, for appointment as a judge of the High Court of Chhattisgarh.

Another resolution asked the Centre to consider appointing Rohit Kapoor, an advocate, as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

“The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the names of (i) Shamima Jahan, Advocate and (ii) Yarenjungla Longkumer, Judicial Officer, for appointment as Judges of the Gauhati High Court…,” it said.

While making the recommendations, the apex court collegium made it clear that the seniority of those, whose names were recommended prior to Kapoor for appointment as judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, not be disturbed.

“The Collegium further resolves to recommend that two advocates namely (i) Harmeet Singh Grewal and (ii) Deepinder Singh Nalwa, whose names have been approved by this Collegium earlier in point of time, ie, on October 17, 2023, be given precedence in the matter of appointment over Rohit Kapoor. The inter se seniority of all the three advocates be fixed as per the existing practice,” it said.