Supreme Court Collegium recommends the appointment of 13 additional judges as permanent judges of three High Courts
On February 13, 2024 (Tuesday), the Supreme Court (SC) Collegium recommended the appointment of 13 additional High Court judges as permanent judges of three High Courts. Out of 13 additional judges recommended for elevation as permanent judges, 10 belong to the Punjab & Haryana High Court whereas the other 3 belong to the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The SC Collegium passed two resolutions on February 13, 2024, constitution Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice B.R. Gavai, and Justice Sanjiv Khanna.
The Additional judges of the Punjab & Haryana HC recommended for appointment as permanent judges of the Punjab & Haryana HC constituted Mr. Justice Kuldeep Tiwari, Mr. Justice Gurbir Singh, Mr. Justice Deepak Gupta, Ms. Justice Amarjot Bhatti, Ms. Justice Ritu Tagore, Ms. Justice Manisha Batra, Ms. Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan, Ms. Justice Sukhvinder Kaur, Mr. Justice Sanjiv Berry, and Mr. Justice Vikram Aggarwal. The names were unanimously recommended by the Collegium of the Punjab & Haryana HC for appointment as permanent judges on October 06, 2023. While recommending their names, the Collegium considered the view of a Committee constituted by the Chief Justice of India. The Committee assessed the judgments of the additional judges aforementioned and rated the quality of their judgments as ‘very good/good’. The Collegium further added, “With a view to assess the merit and suitability of the above Additional Judges for appointment as permanent Judges, we have scrutinized the material placed on record including the opinion of the consultee-Judges and the report of the Judgment Evaluation Committee.” The Collegium stated that the aforementioned additional judges are fit and suitable for being appointed as permanent judges.
The Additional judges of the Andhra Pradesh HC recommended for appointment as permanent judges consisted of Shri Justice Boppana Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Chakravarthi, Shri Justice Tallapragada Mallikarjuna Rao, and Shri Justice Duppala Venkata Ramana. The Collegium of the Andhra Pradesh HC unanimously recommended the names for appointment as permanent judges on February 24, 2023. The Committee rated the quality of their judgments as ‘good’. The resolution reads, “With a view to assess the merit and suitability of the above Additional Judges for appointment as permanent Judges, we have scrutinized and evaluated the material placed on record. Having considered all aspects of the matter and on an overall consideration of the above proposal, the Collegium is of the considered view that the above Additional Judges deserve to be appointed as permanent Judges of the High Court.” Furthermore, the Collegium recommended the appointment of Additional Judges Shri Justice Boppana Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Chakravarthi and Shri Justice Tallapragada Mallikarjuna Rao as permanent judges of Andhra Pradesh HC. It recommended the appointment of Additional Judge Shri Justice Duppala Venkata Ramana as a permanent judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
