New Delhi, Jan 5: The Centre has received five recommendations from the Supreme Court collegium, which is led by Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, for the appointment of additional judges to four high courts. The collegiums, which also included justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, suggested the appointment of two more judges as permanent judges: justices Rahul Bharti and Moksha Khajuria Kazmi from the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court. According to one of the recommendations, Justice Abhay Ahuja, an extra judge, should also be given consideration for a permanent appointment to the Bombay High Court. A number of collegium resolutions that were posted on the website of the Supreme court on Thursday night gave information about the discussions that resulted in suggestions for the names of advocates and judicial officers to be appointed to high court judges.One of the resolutions stated, “The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended Smt. Chaitali Chatterjee (Das), Judicial Officer, for appointment as Judge of the High Court at Calcutta in the following terms.” Additionally, it sent the names of Arvind Kumar Verma, a judicial officer, for consideration of appointment to the Chhattisgarh High Court as a judge. An additional resolution requested that the Centre take into consideration the appointment of advocate Rohit Kapoor as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.The statement read, “Ms. Shamima Jahan, an advocate, and Ms. Yarenjungla Longkumer, a judicial officer, have been recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium to be appointed as judges of the Gauhati High Court.” The seniority of those whose names were recommended before Kapoor for appointment as judges of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana was not to be disturbed, the apex court collegiums made clear while making the recommendations.The Collegium also decides to suggest that two advocates, S/Shri (i) Harmeet Singh Grewal and (ii) Deepinder Singh Nalwa, whose names have already been approved by this Collegium at a previous date, namely October 17, 2023, be given priority over Shri Rohit Kapoor when it comes to appointment. It stated, “The three advocates’ inter se seniority shall be fixed in accordance with current practice. Before recommending names for judgeships, the collegiums considered the professional competence of the candidates as well as the input of the respective governments and consultee apex court judges.
