8 High Courts get new CJs
Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has recommended the names of eight judges for the appointment as Chief Justices of various High Courts across the country.
Acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Justice Rajesh Bindal is among the eight judges recommended by the top court. Justice Bindal was appointed as the acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court on April 29, as the polling got over in West Bengal.
He was caught in the standoff between the Trinamool Congress and the Centre after elections in the State. The sources said the collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana, has recommended that Justice Bindal be transferred as the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court. Besides the CJI, the collegium has Justices UU Lalit, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao.
Besides Justice Bindal, the other judges recommended for elevation as Chief Justices of High Courts are Justice Satish Chandra Sharma for Telangana, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra for Andhra Pradesh High Court, Justice Prakash Srivastava for Calcutta, Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi for Karnataka, Justice Ranjit V More for Meghalaya, Justice Aravind Kumar for Gujarat and Justice R V Malimath for Madhya Pradesh.
This is probably the largest number of judges recommended by the collegium for elevation as Chief Justices of High Courts.
It has also recommended that Chief Justice of Tripura High Court Justice Akil Qureshi be transferred to the Rajasthan High Court. Besides Justice Qureshi, the other Chief Justices of High Courts recommended for transfer include Andhra Pradesh Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami to Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh Chief Justice Mohd Rafiq to Himachal Pradesh, Chief Justice Indirajit Mohanty of the Rajasthan High Court to Tripura and Meghalaya Chief Justice Biswanath Somadder to Sikkim.
The collegium, on September 3, had made 68 recommendations, including 10 women judges, for appointment to High Courts. However, the Centre has not acted on these names so far. The 25 High Courts of the country have a combined sanctioned strength of 1,080 judges.