Govt yet to clear the recommendations for HC judge appointments: Sources

Sources aware of the procedure for appointments into the higher judiciary have informed that the government is yet to take a call on the recommendations of the Supreme Court collegium on the appointment of 68 judicial officers and advocates as judges of different high courts. The collegium headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana had processed over 100 names recommended by various high courts between August 8 and September 1 and sent 68 names to the government for appointment as judges to 12 high courts.

While most names are fresh recommendations, two from Karnataka and one from Jammu and Kashmir have been sent for the third time. Ten others have been recommended for the second time. The collegium had sent nine names, including three women, for elevation as Supreme Court judges on August 17 before these recommendations. The government cleared these names, and they were sworn in as top court judges on August 31.

On Friday, the collegium further recommended eight judges, including the acting chief justice of Calcutta High Court Justice Rajesh Bindal, for elevation as chief justices of high courts.

Marathon collegium meetings were conducted on Thursday and Friday. The collegium then recommended the transfer of five high court chief justices, including Tripura High Court Chief Justice Akil Kureshi and 28 other high court judges.

The combined strength of the 25 high courts across the country is 1,098 judges. As per the data put out by the Law Ministry, accessible in the public domain, there were 465 vacancies as of September 1.