Judges' Appointment

Govt says no plans for law requiring SC, HC judges to disclose assets

The government on Thursday told the Rajya Sabha that it had no plans to bring a law mandating Supreme Court and high court judges to furnish their property returns, as recommended by a parliamentary committee. In a written reply, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal also said that details of the declaration of assets by the judges of high courts and the Supreme Court were not centrally maintained. The minister replied in the negative to a sub-question on "whether the government is contemplating to enact a law mandating judges of the higher judiciary to furnish their property returns as recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee in its report titled 'Judicial Processes and their Reform' of August, 2023". At the same time, the minister said the "Restatement of Values of Judicial Life", adopted by a "full court" meeting of the Supreme Court on May 7, 1997, laid down certain judicial standards to be followed by the Supreme Court and high court judges. The full bench on August

21% posts vacant in district courts, Govt needs to invest more: Ex-CJI

He also pointed out that this will require a constitutional amendment because, the recruitment and conditions of service of the judges to the district judiciary are, controlled by the governors

India may look to curb judges' arbitrary sentences for criminals

The pace of the trial and questions about the legal defence given to the accused fuelled concern among some rights advocates

SC appoints new judge: Who is Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale?

Justice Varale, who is currently the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday

SC collegium recommends K'taka HC CJ Varale's elevation as top court judge

The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Friday recommended the elevation of Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale as a top court judge. In a meeting held on Friday, the collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose, took into consideration the fact that he is among the senior-most High Court judges and is the only HC chief justice from the Scheduled Caste. "We are also conscious of the fact that at present, there are three Judges from the High Court of Bombay on the Bench of the Supreme Court. The Collegium, therefore, unanimously resolves to recommend that Mr Justice Prasanna B Varale be appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India," the collegium said. The collegium took note of the vacancy that arose on the retirement of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on December 25, 2023. "Bearing in mind that the workload of judges has increased considerably, it has become necessary to ensure that the

SC collegium recommends five names to Centre for judgeship in four HCs

The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud has recommended five names to the Centre for appointment as additional judges in four high courts. The collegiums, also comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, also recommended the names of additional judges -- justices Rahul Bharti and Moksha Khajuria Kazmi, both from the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, for appointment as permanent judges. One of the recommendations said additional judge Justice Abhay Ahuja be also considered for appointment as permanent judge in the Bombay High Court. Several collegiums resolutions, uploaded Thursday night on apex court website, provided details of the deliberations leading to recommendations of names of judicial officers and advocates for judgeship in high courts. The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the name of Smt. Chaitali Chatterjee (Das), Judicial Officer, for appointment as Judge of the High Court at Calcutta in the following terms..., one of the .

HC collegiums yet to send recommendations for 201 judges' vacancies: Govt

Eighty-one of the 123 proposals sent by high court collegiums for appointment of judges are at various stages of processing with the government, Parliament was informed on Friday. The remaining 42 proposals are under the consideration of the Supreme Court Collegium, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha. He also said recommendations are yet to be received from the high court collegiums regarding the remaining 201 vacancies. "As on December 12, 123 proposals are at various stages of processing. Out of these 123 proposals, 81 proposals are at various stages of processing in the government. Forty-two proposals are under consideration with the SC collegium," Meghwal said. According to the law ministry's website, as on December 1, of the sanctioned strength of 1,114 judges for the 25 high courts, there were 324 vacancies. According to the established mechanism, the chief justice of a high court initiates a proposal to fill vacancies of ..

Ministry of Law and Justice notifies transfer of several high court judges

Recently, the collegium has recommended the transfer of several judges from High Courts across the country despite requests from several of them to reconsider its decision

Centre cannot 'pick and choose' names from collegium resolutions: SC

The bench noted in its order that 14 first-time recommendations and five reiterated recommendations are currently pending with the Centre

SC to hear pleas on delay in approving collegium recommendations on Oct 9

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday two petitions including the one alleging delay by the Centre in clearing the names recommended by the collegium for appointment and transfer of judges. The appointment of judges through the collegium system has in the past become a major flashpoint between the Supreme Court and the Centre with the mechanism drawing criticism from different quarters. A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia is scheduled to hear the pleas on October 9. While hearing the matter on September 26, the apex court had voiced dismay over the "delay" in the appointment of judges and asked Attorney General R Venkataramani to use his office to resolve the issue. "There were 80 recommendations pending until last week when 10 names were cleared. Now, the figure is 70, of which 26 recommendations are of transfer of judges, seven are reiterations, nine are pending without being returned to the collegium and one case is of appointment of the Chief

JKPSC civil judge registration deadline extended till September 19

JKPSC extended its last date to apply for the Civil Judge (Junior Division) post to September 19. Applicants can apply at jkpsc.nic.in for 69 vacancies available

Centre appoints Justices Ujjal Bhuyan, SV Bhatti as Supreme Court judges

The Collegium in its resolution said that it resolves to recommend the appointments of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, and Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti by following the order of seniority

President Murmu appoints 4 additional judges to Madras High Court

President Droupadi Murmu on Friday appointed four additional judges to the Madras High Court, including P Dhanabal, the Registrar General of the High Court. "...the President is pleased to appoint S/Shri (i) Ramasamy Sakthivel, (ii) P. Dhanabal, (iii) Chinnasamy Kumarappan and (iv) Kandasamy Rajasekar, Judicial Officers as Additional Judges of the Madras High Court for a period of two years with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices," read a notification issued by the government. Additional judges usually serve a term of two years before they are made permanent judges of high courts. The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the names of the four judicial officers for appointment as judges of the Madras High Court on March 21. The appointments came a day after Arjun Ram Meghwal assumed charge as the Law Minister replacing Kiren Rijiju. The president appointed two Supreme Court judges on Thursday.

Govt doing everything possible to strengthen judicial system: Kiren Rijiju

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday said the government is doing everything possible to strengthen the judicial system and have a "very close, cordial relationship" with the judiciary. The remarks come close on the heels of the minister attacking the collegium system of appointment of judges and describing it as something alien to the Constitution. Addressing the Constitution Day event at the Supreme Court in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud, Rijiju said, "We work as a team from the government's side under the visionary leadership of the prime minister." "We are doing everything possible to strengthen the Indian judicial system and also to have a very close, cordial relationship with the Indian judiciary," he said. Rijiju said he is fortunate to have shared a very cordial relationship with the previous two CJIs N V Ramana and U U Lalit, and incumbent Chandrachud as well as the judges of the Supreme Court and high ...

Supreme Court collegium perfect, doesn't require fine tuning: Ex-CJI Lalit

Former Chief Justice of India U U Lalit said the Supreme Court collegium is perfect and it does not require any fine-tuning.

A fresh beginning

Justice Chandrachud's term will be closely followed

SC dismisses plea to block Justice Chandrachud's appointment as next CJI

The petition sought contempt proceedings and criminal action against Justice Chandrachud, objected to CJI Lalit hearing the case

Is it time to rethink the collegium system of judicial appointments?

The govt says that appointments and transfers in judiciary have been opaque. But the SC believes, scrapping the collegium system will compromise its independence. Let's delve deeper into the debate

Centre recommends elevation of two judges as CJs of Karnataka and J-K HC

The Centre has notified the elevation of two judges as chief justices of the Karnataka High Court, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, and also notified the transfer of Chief Justice of J&K High Court to the Rajasthan High Court.

SC collegium meeting of Sept 30 on elevation of judges discharged

'The unfinished work in the meeting called for September 30 is closed without there being any further deliberation and it stands discharged'