Collegium recommends names for appointment as chief justices of 4 HCs

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended names of four high court judges for their appointment as chief justices of the high courts of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana.

As per May 10 resolutions uploaded on the apex court website, a three-member Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, recommended to the Centre the name of Justice D N Patel for his appointment as the chief justice of Delhi High Court. Similarly, the Collegium has recommended names of Justices A A Kureshi, V Ramasubramanian and R S Chauhan for their appointment as chief justices of high courts of Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana respectively.

"Office of the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court would be falling vacant very shortly, consequent upon retirement of Justice Rajendra Menon, chief justice of that high court. Therefore, appointment to that office is required to be made," the Collegium, also comprising Justices S A Bobde and N V Ramana, said. "Justice D N Patel is a senior puisne Judge from Gujarat High Court and at present is functioning, on transfer, in Jharkhand High Court. Having regard to all relevant factors, the Collegium is of the considered view that Justice D N Patel is suitable in all respects for being appointed as chief justice of the Delhi High Court," the resolution said.

Recommending the name of Justice Ramasubramanian for appointment as chief justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, the Collegium said it has taken into consideration the fact that at present there is only one chief justice from Madras High Court. "Justice V Ramasubramanian is the senior-most judge from Madras High Court and at present is functioning, on transfer, in Telangana High Court. Having regard to all relevant factors, the Collegium is of the considered view that Justice V Ramasubramanian is suitable in all respects for being appointed as chief justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court," the resolution said. Regarding Justice Kureshi, the Collegium said he is the senior-most judge from the Gujarat High Court and at present is functioning, on transfer, in the Bombay High Court.

"Office of the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court would be falling vacant, very shortly, consequent upon retirement of Justice S K Seth, chief justice of that high court. Therefore, appointment to that office is required to be made," it said. The Collegium resolution said that Justice Chauhan is the senior-most judge from Rajasthan High Court and at present is functioning in Telangana High Court as acting chief justice. "Office of the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court, which has recently been constituted as separate high court for the state of Telangana, has been lying vacant for some time.

Therefore, appointment to that office is required to be made," it said. Besides them, the Collegium has also recommended the names of two advocates, Vishal Dhagat and Vishal Mishra, for appointment as judges at the Madhya Pradesh High Court. It dealt with the file relating to proposal for appointment of five advocates as judges of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

"For purpose of assessing merit and suitability of the above-named recommendees for elevation to the high court, we have carefully scrutinized the material on record including the observations made by the Department of Justice as well as certain complaints, placed before us. Apart from this, the Collegium had an interaction with all the recommendees on April 1, 2019," the resolution said. It noted that proposal regarding elevation of the three other advocates as judges "deserves to be remitted" to the Madhya Pradesh High Court.