In an remarkable decision, the Supreme Court Collegium led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana has recommended as many as 68 names in one go for elevation as judges in 12 high courts.
The High Courts for which the names were recommended include Allahabad, Rajasthan, and Calcutta, that are facing a severe crunch of judges, along with Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Madras, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, and Assam.
Recently, this could be seen as a record number of recommendations by the Apex Court’s Collegium to the Central government for appointment of judges in various High Courts.
In the meetings held recently, on August 25 and September 1, the Collegium considered 112 candidate names; 82 of them from the Bar and 31 from the Judicial Service. Among them 68 got cleared for 12 High Courts across the country, 44 from Bar and 24 from the Judicial Service.
Recently, the Top Court Collegium had recommended nine names as judges of the top court, out of which, three judges are women and took oath.
The three women judges recommended by the collegium for elevation to the Supreme Court are, Justice B V Nagarathna of the Karnataka High Court; Justice Hima Kohli, Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court; and Justice Bela Trivedi of the Gujarat High Court.
The Top Court Collegium consists of five senior-most judges, headed by CJI Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, Justice A M Khanwilkar, Justice Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and Justice L Nageswara Rao.
