In a month of marathon recommendations to fill up long-pending vacancies in the High Courts, the Supreme Court Collegium led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana has suggested the names of 16 judicial officers and advocates to the government for appointment as judges in four different High Courts.
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September has seen the Collegium meet frequently, that is, more than once every week, to recommend appointments , transfers, and re-transfers, and reiterate its recommendations to various High Courts. The Collegium recommendations have been sent through the month, starting from September 1 till September 29. The Collegium also comprises Justices U.U. Lalit, A.M. Khanwilkar, D.Y. Chandrachud and L. Nageswara Rao.
In its latest set of resolutions, the Collegium has suggested appointments to the High Courts of Punjab and Haryana, Gujarat, Orissa, and Bombay, on September 29.
In Punjab and Haryana, the Collegium has proposed the elevation of advocate Sandeep Moudgil as judge.
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The names of advocates Mauna Manish Bhatt, Samir J. Dave, Hemant M. Prachchhak, Sandeep N. Bhatt, Aniruddha Pradyumna Mayee, Niral Rashmikant Mehta and Nisha Mahendrabhai Thakore have been proposed as judges of the Gujarat High Court.
The Collegium has recommended advocates Aditya Kumar Mohapatra and Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo, and judicial officers Radha Krishna Pattanaik and Sashikanta Mishra, as judges of the Orissa High Court.
Four judicial officers have been recommended for appointment as judges of the Bombay High Court. They are A.L. Pansare, S.C. More, U.S. Joshi-Phalke and B.P. Deshpande.
Within days of successfully getting nine new judges appointed to the Supreme Court in one go in August, the Collegium had yet again scripted history by recommending 68 names in one stroke for elevation as judges of various High Courts.
Following this, the Collegium recommended eight new Chief Justices to High Courts, the transfer of five High Court Chief Justices and the shuffling of 28 High Court judges across the country. The proposed shuffle, probably one of the largest in the higher judiciary in recent times, recommended the transfer of judges from across 14 of a total 25 High Courts in the country. The Collegium recommendations had covered the High Courts of Allahabad, Bombay, Calcutta, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Madras, Orissa, Patna, Punjab and Haryana, Rajasthan and Telangana.
Earlier this month, Chief Justice Ramana had described judicial appointments as an “ongoing process”.
The CJI had said the Collegium intended to “live up to the Herculean task of filling up 41% of vacancies existing in all the High Courts”. He had made it clear that the Supreme Court Collegium was united in its resolve to fill up the vacancies in the High Courts.