SC collegium recommends names for appointment as chief justice of seven HCs

New Delhi: The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud has recommended to the Centre the names of seven judges for appointment as chief justice of seven high courts, including that of Bombay and Gujarat.

The three-member collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, made the recommendations on Wednesday and its resolutions were uploaded on the apex court website.

It has recommended names for appointment as chief justices of the high courts of Bombay, Gujarat, Telangana, Kerala, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Manipur.

The five-member apex court collegium, which recommends names for appointment to judges in the Supreme Court, on Wednesday recommended to the Centre the names of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court, and Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti, his counterpart in Kerala, for elevation as the judges of the top court.

It has recommended the name of Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, who is presently a judge of the Allahabad High Court, for appointment as chief justice of the Bombay High Court.

"A vacancy in the office of the chief justice of the High Court of Bombay has arisen recently consequent upon retirement of Justice Ramesh D Dhanuka," the resolution said, adding, "On appointment of Justice Upadhyaya, the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad which is the largest high court with a total judge strength of 160 would get adequate representation among the chief justices of high courts." Similarly, the collegium has recommended the name of Justice Sunita Agarwal, who is at present a judge of the Allahabad High Court, for appointment as chief justice of the Gujarat High Court.

It said a vacancy in the office of the chief justice of the Gujarat High Court has arisen consequent upon the retirement of Justice Sonia G Gokani. "On the appointment of Justice Sunita Agarwal, the Allahabad High Court would have a second chief justice among the chief justices of the high courts. Besides, while considering the name of Justice Sunita Agarwal, the collegium has taken into consideration the fact that she would be the only woman chief justice of a high court as presently there is no woman among the chief justices of the high courts," the resolution said.

For the Orissa High Court, it said a vacancy in the office of the chief justice there would arise in August 2023 consequent upon retirement of Dr Justice S Muralidhar.

"In view of the above, the collegium resolves to recommend that Justice Subhasis Talapatra be appointed as the chief justice of the High Court of Orissa consequent upon retirement of Dr Justice S Muralidhar," the resolution said, adding, "While considering his name, the collegium has taken into consideration the fact that since its inception in 2013, the high court of Tripura till date has not got representation among the chief justices of the high courts." The collegium said the office of the chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court fell vacant on May 19, 2023 consequent upon the elevation of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra as a judge of the Supreme Court.

"It is proposed to appoint Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur as the chief justice of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. He was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir on March 8, 2013 and is now the senior-most judge in his parent high court. He was transferred, in the interest of better administration of justice, to the High Court of Bombay in June 2022 and has been functioning there since then," it said.

It said the recommendation made by the collegium on February 9, 2023 for Justice Thakur's elevation as the chief justice of the Manipur High Court has been pending with the government.

"On appointment of Justice Thakur, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh would get representation amongst the chief justices of the high courts," the resolution said, adding, "In view of the above, the collegium, in supersession of its recommendation dated February 9, 2023, resolves to recommend that Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur be appointed as chief justice of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh."

For Kerala High Court, the collegium said a vacancy in the office of the chief justice of that high court would arise consequent upon elevation of Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti to the apex court in terms of the separate recommendation made by it.

It has recommended the name of Justice Ashish J Desai, who is currently performing the duties of the office of chief justice of the Gujarat High Court, as the chief justice of the Kerala High Court.

"While recommending his name, the collegium has taken into consideration the fact that the High Court of Gujarat presently has no representation among the chief justices of the high courts," the resolution said.

It said a vacancy in the office of the chief justice of the High Court for the state of Telangana would arise consequent upon the elevation of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan to the apex court in terms of the collegium's separate recommendation.

The collegium has recommended the name of Justice Alok Aradhe, who is presently a judge of the Karnataka High Court, as the chief justice of the Telangana High Court.

It said the office of the chief justice of the Manipur High Court fell vacant in February 2023 consequent upon the elevation of Justice P V Sanjay Kumar as a judge of the Supreme Court.

The collegium has recommended the name of Justice Siddharth Mridul, who is at present a judge of the Delhi High Court, for appointment as the chief justice of the Manipur High Court.