The Himachal Pradesh High Court has submitted a report in a “sealed cover” to the Supreme Court in response to a plea by two district and sessions judges alleging that their merit and seniority were not considered for judgeship in the high court by its collegium.
The plea was filed by the senior-most district and sessions judges, Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra.
As per sources, the high court’s registrar general reported that the HC’s Chief Justice had written to Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on December 11 last year, seeking guidance on whether the apex court collegium needed any further inputs regarding the suitability of Singh and Malhotra for elevation as HC judges. The report indicates that the HC did not receive any note from the Supreme Court collegium on the issue even after six months.
, “The report in a sealed cover is furnished by the Registrar General of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. A copy of the said report be furnished today itself to Bina Madhavan, the counsel assisting Arvind P. Datar, senior counsel appearing for the petitioners. The matter be re-listed on July 23,” the order stated.
Earlier in May, a Supreme Court bench led by Justice Hrishikesh Roy had sought a response from the HC’s registrar general regarding the judges’ plea. Singh and Malhotra have alleged that their merit and seniority were not considered by the high court collegium in the selection of names for HC judgeship. Datar, representing the petitioners, stated that judicial officers junior to them had been recommended for HC judgeship under the in-service quota.
At the time of filing the petition, Singh and Malhotra were serving as district and sessions judges in Bilaspur and Solan, respectively. Datar referred to a January 4 resolution of the apex court collegium and a subsequent communication from the law ministry to the Himachal Pradesh High Court, asserting that, according to these, the names of the petitioner judicial officers should have been considered by the HC collegium.
Datar emphasized that the petitioners were the senior-most judicial officers in the state with unblemished records. The plea questioned the selection process by the high court collegium for elevation as HC judges and argued that the merit and seniority of Singh and Malhotra were ignored, despite being specifically referred to in the apex court collegium’s resolution. It also noted that the apex court collegium’s decision to send their names for reconsideration by the HC collegium was followed by a communication from the Union law minister to the chief justice of the high court, urging him to reconsider the names of the petitioner judicial officers. The plea alleges that the high court collegium did not consider these inputs and instead deliberated on the names of other judicial officers.
