Collegium recommends twelve eligibles for the High Courts of Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
On 12 April 2023, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the elevation of one judicial officer as a judge of the Chhattisgarh High Court. Also, the Collegium recommended the names of three advocates and one judicial officer for appointment as judges of the Uttarakhand High Court. Moreover, the Supreme Court Collegium also recommended the elevation of seven District judges as judges of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. A total of twelve candidates were recommended yesterday (April 12, Wednesday) by the Supreme Court Collegium headed by the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud as judges of three different High Courts.
The name of Judicial Officer Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal was recommended by the Collegium for appointment as a judge of the Chhattisgarh High Court. While recommending his name, the Collegium said “For the purpose of assessing the merit and suitability of the candidate for elevation to the High Court, we have scrutinized and evaluated the material places on record. We have also perused the observations made by the Department of Justice in the files as well as the complaint received against the candidate. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has reported that he enjoys good personal and professional image and that nothing adverse has come to notice against his integrity.” The Collegium further added that “He belongs to the OBC category. Having regard to these aspects, the collegium is of the considered opinion that Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal is suitable for appointment as a judge of the High Court of Chhattisgarh.”
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In another resolution, the Collegium recommended the name of judicial officer Vivek Bharti Sharma and three lawyers (Rakesh Thapliyal, Subhash Upadhyay, and Pankaj Purohit) for appointment as a judge of the Uttarakhand High Court. The Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh High Court recommended their names on 7 September 2022, after consulting with the two senior-most colleagues. On April 1, 2023, The Supreme Court received the file from the Department of Justice. Further, the Collegium consulted with the other judges of the Supreme Court who have knowledge regarding the affairs of the Uttarakhand High Court and recommended the above mentioned names for elevation to the High Court.
Along with this, seven names were recommended by the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court for appointment as judges on 23 November 2023. Recommended names were: Shri Roopesh Chandra Varshney, Shri Sanjeev Sudhakar Kalgaonkar, Shri Achal Kumar Paliwal, Shri Avnindra Kumar Singh, Ms. Anuradha Shukla, Shri Prem Narayan, and Shri Hirdesh. The resolution was received on April 7, it stated “In terms of the Memorandum of Procedure, in order to ascertain the fitness and suitability of the candidates for elevation to the High Court, the judge of the Supreme Court conversant with the affairs of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh has been consulted.” The Collegium said “We have also taken note of the fact that the above proposal involves non-recommendation of two senior judicial officers. In this regard, the High Court Collegium has duly recorded reasons for not recommending the names of these judicial officers.” Further added, “We are in agreement with the jurisdiction given by the High Court Collegium in its minutes for not recommending these senior judicial officers.”
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