After SC flagged delay, appointment of 8 HC Chief Justices gets nod

On Friday, portion proceeding the contempt petition and a PIL which sought a “fixed clip limit” for the Centre to notify the assignment of Judges recommended by the Collegium, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to taxable a presumption study connected the recommendations that the Collegium had reiterated, specifying “what is the trouble successful making those appointments”.

The Bench, led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, had underlined that the Collegium is not a “search committee”.

Announcing the appointments connected Saturday, Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal said successful a station connected X: “In workout of the powers conferred by the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint/ transportation the pursuing Chief Justices of High Courts.” According to the list:

Delhi High Court Acting Chief Justice Manmohan has been appointed arsenic Delhi HC Chief Justice.

Justice Rajiv Shakdher of the Delhi HC has been appointed Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh HC.

Justice Suresh Kumar Kait of the Delhi HC has been appointed Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh HC.

Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji of the Calcutta HC has been appointed Chief Justice of the Meghalaya HC.

Justice Nitin Madhukar Jamdar of the Bombay HC has been appointed Chief Justice of the Kerala HC.

Acting Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan of the J&K and Ladakh HC has been appointed Chief Justice of the aforesaid court.

Justice Shriram Kalpathi Rajendran of the Bombay HC has been appointed Chief Justice of the Madras HC.

Himachal Pradesh HC Chief Justice M S Ramachandra Rao has been transferred arsenic Jharkhand HC Chief Justice.

The Supreme Court Collegium for assignment of HC Judges had archetypal recommended these appointment, barring Justice Mukerji, connected July 11. As the recommendations remained pending with the Centre, the Collegium made immoderate changes and issued different solution connected September 17.

In July, the Collegium — comprising the CJI and 2 astir elder Judges of the Supreme Court — had recommended the assignment of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait, G S Sandhawalia and Tashi Rabstan arsenic the Chief Justices of the HCs successful J&K and Ladakh, Madhya Pradesh and Meghalaya respectively.

It changed this successful September, listing Justices Kait and Tashi Rabstan for the Madhya Pradesh and J&K and Ladakh HCs respectively, portion pushing Justice Sandhawalia’s assignment until aft Justice Shakdher retires connected October 18. Following Justice Shakdher’s retirement, Justice Sandhawalia was recommended to instrumentality implicit arsenic Himachal HC Chief Justice. In summation to these changes, Justice Mukerji was added to the list, for assignment arsenic the Meghalaya HC Chief Justice.

In its contempt petition, the Jharkhand authorities had said its HC had been functioning without a regular Chief Justice since December 2023, with the objection of erstwhile Chief Justice B R Sarangi’s 15-day tenure successful July — the Centre cleared his assignment six months aft the Collegium’s recommendation.

In 2021, a Supreme Court Bench led by past CJI S A Bobde had acceptable timelines for assorted stages of the assignment process for Judges. After a proposal is sent, the Centre indispensable either marque the assignment oregon instrumentality the proposal with circumstantial reasons “immediately”, it had said. If the Collegium “reiterates” the aforesaid proposal — which the Centre is typically bound to judge — the assignment should beryllium made successful three-four weeks, it had said.

Since then, delays successful appointments of Judges person been flagged from clip to time. In 2021, past CJI N V Ramana mentioned pending recommendations successful his code astatine the motorboat of the ‘Pan India Legal Awareness and Outreach Campaign’ of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).

The contented was besides dealt with successful tribunal by a Bench comprising Justices S K Kaul (now retired) and Sudhanshu Dhulia successful November 2023, portion proceeding a contempt petition filed by the Advocates Association of Bangalore alleging that the Centre had failed to abide by the court’s 2021 determination connected timelines for Judges’ appointments.