New Delhi, Sep 21: A day after the Supreme Court sought details of reiterated Collegium recommendations for the appointment of judges and questioned over delay in notifying these names, the Centre on Saturday cleared the appointment of Chief Justices of the High Courts of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, and Meghalaya.
In a post on X, Union Minister for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal announced that President Droupadi Murmu was pleased to appoint Justice Manmohan, the acting Chief Justice, as Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher of the Delhi HC has been appointed as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, while its Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao has been transferred as Chief Justice of the Jharkhand HC.
Further, the name of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait of the Delhi HC has been cleared for appointment as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji has been appointed as Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court.
Justice Mukerji, who was appointed as a judge in May 2009, is the senior most puisne judge of the Calcutta HC. Justice Tashi Rabstan, the acting Chief Justice, will now function as the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court. Justice K.R. Shriram, the second seniormost puisne Judge of the Bombay HC, has been appointed the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, and his HC colleague, Justice Nitin Madhukar Jamdar, as the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court.
On Friday, the Supreme Court on Friday told the Centre that the “Collegium is not a search committee” and sought in tabulated form the status of reiterated recommendations of the Collegium.
Adjourning the judges’ appointment matter for next week, the SC said: “Let’s wait for a little while. Some of these appointments are in the pipeline. We are expecting that appointments (of Chief Justices of several HCs) should come very shortly.”
“Ultimately, Mr.Attorney General, the idea is not to unearth skeletons in the cupboard but to move forward. The business of governance must proceed,” added the CJI D.Y. Chandrachud-led Bench. A day before, Attorney General R Venkataramani urged the apex court to “push for another week” the hearing on a batch of pleas concerning the delay in the appointment or transfer of judges in the higher judiciary.
“If the batch of petitions could be pushed for another week or so, I will be in a position to come back with something. Let it not be taken up tomorrow,” he had said.
IANS