New Delhi: The Centre on Monday cleared the appointment of 19 judges across three different high courts of the country, following the recommendations made by the Supreme Court Collegium.
In a post on X, Union Minister for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal announced that President Droupadi Murmu was pleased to appoint advocates Gouse Meera Mohiuddin, Chalapathi Rao Suddala, Vakiti Ramakrishna Reddy, and Gadi Praveen Kumar as the additional judges of the Telangana High Court.
In the Madhya Pradesh High Court, the President cleared the elevation of five advocates, namely, Pushpendra Yadav, Anand Singh Bahrawat, Ajay Kumar Nirankari, Jai Kumar Pillai, and Himanshu Joshi, and judicial officers Ramkumar Choubey and Rajesh Kumar Gupta, to the Bench.
Also, judicial officers Alok Awasthi, Ratnesh Chandra Singh Bisen, Bhagwati Prasad Sharma, and Pradeep Mittal were appointed as the additional judges of the MP High Court.
In its meeting held on July 1, the apex court Collegium recommended the elevation of five advocates and five judicial officers as judges of the Madhya Pradesh HC.
President Murmu also appointed four additional judges to the Gauhati High Court.
The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the elevation of advocates Anjan Moni Kalita and Rajesh Mazumdar, and judicial officers Pranjal Das and Sanjeev Kumar Sharma to the Bench.
These names were originally recommended by the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues.
As per the memorandum of procedure (MoP) governing the appointment of High Court judges, the proposal for the appointment should be initiated by the Chief Justice. The Governor, as advised by the Chief Minister, should forward his recommendation along with the entire set of papers to the Union Minister of Law & Justice as early as possible, but not later than six weeks from the date of receipt of the proposal from the Chief Justice of the High Court.
The Union Minister of Law & Justice would consider the recommendations in the light of such other reports as may be available to the government in respect of the names under consideration. The complete material would then be forwarded to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) for his advice. The CJI would, in consultation with the two seniormost Judges of the Supreme Court, form his opinion in regard to a person to be recommended for appointment to the High Court.
After their consultations, the Chief Justice of India will, in the course of 4 weeks, send his recommendation to the Union Minister of Law & Justice.
Further, as per the MoP, as soon as the warrant of appointment is signed by the President, the Secretary of the Department of Justice will inform the Chief Justice, and a copy of such communication will be sent to the Chief Minister. He will also announce the appointment and issue the necessary notification in the Gazette of India.
(IANS)
