SC Collegium recommends 7 judges as chief justices for various high courts

The Supreme Court Collegium on Wednesday recommended the name of seven different judges as the Chief Justice of seven separate High Courts.

The Collegium recommended the names for the High Courts of Bombay, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Orissa and Kerala.

The Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sanjiv Khanna made these recommendations at a collegium meeting held on Wednesday.

If the name is cleared by the Centre then Gujarat HC will get a woman Chief Justice as Collegium has proposed Justice Sunita Agarwal as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Gujarat.

Once appointed, she would be the only woman Chief Justice of a High Court as currently there is no woman representing the same post.

SC Collegium recommended Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, Judge, High Court of Judicature at Allahabad as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Bombay.

The Collegium also recommended the appointment of Justice Alok Aradhe, Judge, High Court of Karnataka (Parent HC: Madhya Pradesh) as the Chief Justice of the High Court for the State of Telangana.

For the Chief Justice of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, the collegium has recommended the appointment of Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, Judge, the High Court of Bombay [Parent HC: Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh].

Justice Siddharth Mridul, Judge, High Court of Delhi has been recommended by the collegium as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Manipur.

SC Collegium also recommended the appointment of Justice Subhasis Talapatra, Judge, High Court of Orissa (Parent HC: Tripura) as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Orissa.

Justice Ashish J Desai, Judge, High Court of Gujarat has been recommended by the collegium as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Kerala.

The Collegium said that these judges are fit and suitable in all respects for being appointed as the Chief Justice of the different High Court and therefore, it resolves to recommend their appointment.

Justice Sunita Agarwal was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad on 21 November 2011 and is now the senior-most puisne Judge in her parent High Court. She has been functioning there since her elevation and has acquired experience of more than 11 years of dispensing justice in the largest High Court in the country.

The High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is the largest High Court in the country. On the appointment of Justice Sunita Agarwal, the Allahabad High Court would have a second Chief Justice among the Chief Justices of the High Courts.

According to the resolution, while considering the name of Justice Sunita Agarwal, the Collegium has taken into consideration the fact that she would be the only woman Chief Justice of a High Court as presently there is no woman among the Chief Justices of the High Courts.

Justice Siddharth Mridul was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Delhi on March 13 2008 and has been functioning as the seniormost puisne Judge in his parent High Court.

Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad on 21 November 2011 and is now a senior puisne Judge in his parent High Court. He has been functioning there since his elevation and has acquired experience of more than 11 years of dispensing justice in the largest High Court in the country.

On the appointment of Justice Upadhyaya, the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad which is the largest High Court with a total judge-strength of 160 would get adequate representation among the Chief Justices of High Courts, the collegium said.