Putting an end to the tension between the government and judiciary over the appointment of High Court judges, the Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar on Monday recommended nine names to the government for the role of chief justices at various HCs.
According a report in The Indian Express, the move puts an end to the High Courts’ appointing acting chief justices and then these chief justices occupying the position for months.
The names are: Justice Hemant Gupta for Madhya Pradesh High Court; Justice Abhilasha Kumari for Tripura High Court; Justice BD Ahmed for Jammu and Kashmir High Court; Justice Pradeep Nandarajog for Rajasthan High Court; Justice Rajendra Menon for Patna High Court; Justice T Vaiphei for Hyderabad High Court; Justice HG Ramesh for Madras High Court; Justice TB Radhakrishnan for Chhattisgarh High Court and Justice PK Mohanty for Jharkhand High Court.
If the government accepts the CJI’s recommendations, this will be the highest number of appointments of chief justices done in a single move.
The war of words between the government and the judiciary had in 2015 after the Supreme Court struck down the National Appointments Commission (NJAC) and resurrected the collegium system.
Following this, the government had blocked all the major recommendations by the collegium for some reason or another. This had resulted in 8 vacancies in the Supreme Court.
