SC Collegium Recommends Names of 13 Advocates as Judges of HCs

New Delhi: The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud has recommended the names of 13 advocates as judges of different high courts. The collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sanjiv Khanna, recommended the names of advocates N Unni Krishnan Nair, and Kaushik Goswami as judges of Gauhati High Court.

"On May 29, 2023, the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues recommended the elevation of the above advocates as judges of that high court. We have duly taken note of the views received from the constitutional authorities of the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.

"In order to ascertain the fitness and suitability of the above-named persons for elevation to the high court, we have consulted our colleagues conversant with the affairs of the Gauhati High Court," the resolution uploaded on the apex court website said.

The collegium said for the purpose of assessing the merit and suitability of the above candidates for elevation to the high court, it has scrutinised and evaluated the material placed on record including the observations made by the Department of Justice in the file as well as the complaints, received against some of the candidates.

In another decision, the collegium has recommended the names of advocates Siddhartha Sah and Alok Mahra for appointment as Judges of the Uttarakhand High Court.

It has also recommended the names of advocates Harmeet Singh Grewal, Deepinder Singh Nalwa, Sumeet Goel, Sudeepti Sharma and Kirti Singh for appointment as judges of the high court of Punjab and Haryana.

The collegium has also recommended the names of advocates Vinay Saraf, Vivek Jain, Ashish Shroti, and Amit Seth for appointment as Judges of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

"On November 11, 2022, the Chief Justice of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh made the above recommendation in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues. We have duly taken note of the views of the Chief Minister and the Governor of the State of Madhya Pradesh placed in the file about the suitability or otherwise of the above candidates. In order to ascertain the suitability of the above advocates for elevation to the high court, we have consulted our colleague conversant with the affairs of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh," the resolution stated.

The collegium said for the purpose of assessing the merit and suitability of the above candidates for elevation to the high court, we have scrutinized and evaluated the material placed on record.

"We have also perused the observations made by the Department of Justice in the file as well as the complaints received against some of the candidates," it said.