Collegium proposes new high court chief justices.

Source – telegraphindia.com

The Supreme Court collegium has recommended new chief justices for several high courts and the elevation of some advocates and judicial officers to others, according to an official resolution uploaded on Thursday.

The decisions came earlier this month when the collegium — the high-powered panel of the apex court’s top five judges — met on October 15.

According to the resolution, the high courts in Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Madras, Madhya Pradesh and Patna will get new chief justices.

The collegium has decided to transfer Justice A.P. Sahi, chief justice of Patna High Court, as chief justice of Madras High Court; Justice A.K. Mittal, chief justice of Meghalaya High Court, as chief justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court; and Justice Sanjay Karol, chief justice of Tripura High Court, as chief justice of Patna High Court.

Justice Mittal had earlier been transferred to Madras High Court and was to swap places with the high court’s chief justice, Vijaya Tahilramani, who was transferred to the smaller Meghalaya High Court.

But Justice Tahilramani resigned last month following the transfer, necessitating the latest shuffle because of vacancies that had arisen in both the courts and corresponding vacancies in other high courts.

So Justice Sahi has now been recommended as chief justice for Madras High Court and Justice Mittal for Madhya Pradesh High Court.

Justice Mohammad Rafiq, a senior judge of Rajasthan High Court, has been recommended for appointment as the chief justice of Meghalaya High Court.

The collegium has recommended that Justice Ravi Ranjan, a judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, be appointed as the chief justice of Jharkhand High Court.

The collegium has also resolved to recommend the transfer of Justice Rakesh Kumar, a judge of Patna High Court, to Andhra Pradesh High Court.

Among the other decisions taken at the October 15 meeting, Wanlura Diengdoh, a judicial officer in the Meghalaya High Court registry, has been recommended for elevation as a judge of the high court.

The collegium has cleared the names of advocates Moksha Kazmi (Khajuria) and Rajnesh Oswal as judges of Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

Soumitra Saikia, an advocate, and judicial officers Parthivjyoti Saikia and S. Hukato Swu have been recommended for elevation as judges of Gauhati High Court.

The collegium has reiterated the name of P. Krishna Bhat, a judicial officer in Karnataka High Court, as a judge of the same high court in terms of a recommendation it had made on August 23, 2016, and repeated on April 6, 2017, despite objections raised by the Centre.

The “Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on 15th October, 2019, has resolved to recommend that its recommendation made on 23rd August, 2016, and reiterated on 6th April, 2017, be processed most expeditiously,” the official resolution said regarding Bhat’s recommended appointment.