The Supreme Court collegium, led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, has recommended to the Centre that the term of nine additional judges of the Calcutta High Court be extended by one year.
Alongside the CJI, Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai are part of the collegium responsible for selecting high court judges.
The collegium did not recommend these judges for appointment as permanent judges of the high court at this stage.
“The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the names of Shri Justices (i) Biswaroop Chowdhury, (ii) Partha Sarathi Sen, (iii) Prasenjit Biswas, (iv) Uday Kumar, (v) Ajay Kumar Gupta, (vi) Supratim Bhattacharya, (vii) Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, (viii) Apurba Sinha Ray, and (ix) Md. Shabbar Rashidi, Additional Judges of the High Court at Calcutta, for appointment as Additional Judges for a fresh term of one year,” the apex court resolution stated.
The resolution noted that the high court collegium had unanimously recommended, on April 29, the names of nine additional judges for appointment as permanent judges.
“The Chief Minister and the Governor of the State of West Bengal have not conveyed their views on the above recommendation. The Department of Justice has forwarded the above recommendation by invoking Para 14 of the Memorandum of Procedure, which provides that if the comments of the Constitutional authorities in the State are not received within the prescribed time-frame, it should be presumed by the Minister of Law and Justice that the Governor and the Chief Minister have nothing to add to the proposal and proceed accordingly,” it added.
The apex court collegium further stated that, in order to ascertain the suitability of the additional judges for being appointed as permanent judges, it consulted SC judges familiar with the affairs of the Calcutta High Court. After considering the suitability and other aspects, the collegium concluded that the additional judges can be appointed for a fresh term of one year, effective from August 31, 2024.
