SC collegium recommends 16 names for elevation as judges of 4 HCs

The Supreme Court collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana, has recommended 16 names for elevation as judges of the high courts of Bombay, Gujarat, Orissa and Punjab and Haryana.

In its meeting held on Wednesday, the collegium approved the proposal for elevation of 16 names -- six judicial officers and 10 advocates – as judges of these four high courts.

As per the statements uploaded on the apex court website on Thursday, the collegium has approved the proposal for elevation of four judicial officers -- A L Pansare, S C More, U S Joshi-Phalke and B P Deshpande -- as judges of the Bombay High Court.

Similarly, the collegium has recommended names of advocates Aditya Kumar Mohapatra and Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo and judicial officers Radha Krishna Pattanaik and Sashikanta Mishra for their elevation as judges of the Orissa High Court.

For the Gujarat High Court, the collegium has approved the proposal for elevation of seven advocates -- Mauna Manish Bhatt, Samir J Dave, Hemant M Prachchhak, Sandeep N Bhatt, Aniruddha Pradyumna Mayee, Niral Rashmikant Mehta and Nisha Mahendrabhai Thakore -- as judges there.

“The Supreme Court collegium in its meeting held on September 29, 2021 has approved the proposal for elevation of Sandeep Moudgil, advocate, as judge in the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” said one of the statements.

Besides the CJI, the three-member collegium which deals with the appointment in high courts includes Justices U U Lalit and A M Khanwilkar.

The collegium has been taking steps by recommending names to fill up a large number of vacancies in higher judiciary in the country.

After assuming charge as the CJI in April this year, Justice Ramana has recommended nearly 100 names for appointment to different high courts, besides filling up nine vacancies of judges in the Supreme Court in one go.

The 25 high courts in the country have a combined sanctioned strength of 1,080 judges and on May 1, 2021, they were functioning with 420 judges only.

In a historic decision on August 17, the collegium had recommended nine names, including three women, for elevation as judges of the Supreme Court.

The names were cleared with significant pace by the Centre leading to the swearing-in ceremony on August 31 when the new judges were administered oath of office as apex court judges.