Supreme Court collegium recommends elevation of 3 judicial officers as judges of Delhi High Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court collegium has recommended three judicial officers for appointment as judges of the Delhi High Court.

The collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K.M. Joseph, in its recommendation dated April 12, recommended the elevation of Girish Kathpalia, Dharmesh Sharma, and Manoj Jain, as Judges of the High Court of Delhi.

A statement uploaded on apex court's website said: "On 22 December 2022, the Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues recommended the elevation of judicial officers as judges of the High Court of Delhi. The file was received in the Supreme Court from the Department of Justice on 07 April 2023."

The collegium said for the purpose of assessing the merit and suitability of the above-named judicial officers for elevation to the High Court of Delhi, "we have scrutinised and evaluated the material placed on record including the observations made by the Department of Justice and certain complaints/representations placed before us".

On Kathpalia, the collegium said the Judgment Evaluation Committee has graded judgments authored by him as "outstanding" and he is the senior-most member of the Delhi Higher Judicial Service. "The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has reported that he has a good personal and professional image and that nothing adverse has come to notice against his integrity. We have considered the opinion of consultee-Judges with regard to his suitability for elevation... the Collegium is of the considered opinion that Girish Kathpalia is fit and suitable for appointment as a Judge of the High Court of Delhi", it added.

On Sharma, the collegium said the inputs of the IB are evaluated in conjunction with the opinion of consultee judges who have with their long years of experience in the High Court of Delhi observed the conduct and work performance of the officer and the Judgment Evaluation Committee has graded judgments authored by him as "outstanding".

"In view of the above and on an overall consideration of the proposal for his elevation, the Collegium is of the considered opinion that Dharmesh Sharma is suitable for appointment as a Judge of the High Court of Delhi", it added.

On Jain, the collegium said the IB has reported that he has a good personal and professional image and that nothing adverse has come to notice against his integrity. "In view of the above, the Collegium is of the considered opinion that Manoj Jain is suitable for appointment as a Judge of the High Court of Delhi," it added.

The collegium further added, "While considering the above proposal, the Collegium has also taken note of the fact that the above proposal involves non-recommendation of a senior Judicial Officer. In this regard, we have gone through Minutes of the High Court Collegium, which has duly recorded reasons for not recommending the name of the Judicial Officer. We are in agreement with the justification given by the High Court Collegium in its Minutes for not recommending the senior Judicial Officer".