Supreme Court Collegium recommends appointment of High Court Judges as Chief Justice of 7 High Courts
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ September 17,2024
The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the appointment of the seniormost puisne Judgs of seven High Courts as Chief Justice of these 7 High Courts.
On reconsideration, after taking into consideration all relevant factors and in supersession of the earlier recommendations the Collegium recommends that Mr Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Meghalaya.
Mr Justice Tashi Rabstan he can be appointed as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Mr Justice Suresh Kumar Kait be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh.
Mr Justice G S Sandhawalia be appointed as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh
Supreme Court Collegium recommends appointment of High Court Judges as Chief Justice of 7 High Courts. Earlier, by its resolution dated 11 July 2024, this Collegium had resolved that:
(i) Mr Justice Manmohan, Acting Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi, be appointed as Chief Justice of that High Court;
(ii) Mr Justice Rajiv Shakdher, second seniormost puisne Judge of the High Court of Delhi, be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh in the vacancy caused by the proposal to transfer Mr Justice M S Ramachandra Rao to the High Court of Jharkhand;
(iii) Mr Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, senior puisne Judge of the High Court of Delhi, be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh;
(iv) Mr Justice G S Sandhawalia, seniormost puisne Judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh;
(v) Mr Justice Nitin Madhukar Jamdar, seniormost puisne Judge of the High Court of Bombay, be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Kerala;
(vi) Mr Justice Tashi Rabstan, seniormost puisne Judge of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Meghalaya on the retirement of the Chief Justice of that High Court on 16 August 2024; and
(vii) Mr Justice K R Shriram, second seniormost puisne Judge of the High Court of Bombay, be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Madras.
The above recommendations have been pending with the Government since then.
On reconsideration, after taking into consideration all relevant factors and in supersession of the earlier recommendations as regards the proposals in respect of Mr Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, Mr Justice G S Sandhawalia and Mr Justice Tashi Rabstan at Serial Nos (iii), (iv) and (vi) above, the Collegium resolves to recommend the following
Mr Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji is the seniormost puisne Judge of the High Court at Calcutta . Now, the Collegium recommends that Mr Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Meghalaya.
The Supreme Court Collegium had earlier recommended that Mr Justice Tashi Rabstan is the seniormost puisne Judge of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. He is due to retire on 9 April 2025. In terms of the Memorandum of Procedure, since Mr Justice Tashi Rabstan has less than one year to retire, he can be appointed as the Chief Justice of his parent High Court.
Mr Justice Tashi Rabstan belongs to Ladakh and would be the first Chief Justice from the region of Ladakh which has otherwise little or no representation among the Judges of the High Courts and no representation at all so far in the office of Chief Justice.
The Collegium, therefore, in supersession of its earlier recommendation made on 11 July 2024, recommends that Mr Justice Tashi Rabstan be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Mr Justice Suresh Kumar Kait is the senior puisne Judge of the High Court of Delhi. He belongs to the Scheduled Caste category.
The Collegium, therefore, in supersession of its earlier recommendation made on 11 July 2024, recommends that Mr Justice Suresh Kumar Kait be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh.
The Collegium, therefore, in supersession of its earlier recommendation made on 11 July 2024, recommends that Mr Justice G S Sandhawalia be appointed as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh on the retirement of Mr Justice Rajiv Shakdher on 18 October 2024.
