The Supreme Court Collegium on Tuesday recommended to the Center for elevation of Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Arvind Kumar as judges of the Supreme Court. According to a resolution uploaded on the apex court website, all the six members of the collegium, headed by CJI DY Chandrachud, were unanimous in recommending Justice Bindal’s name, while Justice KM Joseph had reservations about Justice Kumar’s name.
The apex court, which has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges including the CJI, is currently functioning with 27 judges.
“The resolution of the Collegium regarding the appointment of Shri Rajesh Bindal, Chief Justice of the High Court at Allahabad is unanimous. However, with regard to the appointment of Shri Justice Arvind Kumar, Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court, Justice KM Joseph expressed his reservation on the ground that that his name may be considered later,” the proposal said.
Apart from the CJI and Justice Joseph, the collegium also includes Justices SK Kaul, MR Shah, Ajay Rastogi and Sanjiv Khanna.
The collegium had on December 13 recommended five judges – Justice Pankaj Mithal, Chief Justice, Rajasthan High Court; Justice Sanjay Karol, Chief Justice, Patna High Court; Justice PV Sanjay Kumar, Chief Justice, Manipur High Court; Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Judge, Patna High Court; and 5. Justice Manoj Mishra, Judge, Allahabad High Court – for elevation to the apex court.
The Center is yet to accept and notify these names, and the collegium on Tuesday clarified that these judges “will have preference over these two names currently recommended for appointment to the Supreme Court”.
“Therefore, the appointments of the five judges recommended on December 13, 2022, should be notified separately and that of the two judges recommended by this resolution before that,” the collegium said on Tuesday.
The collegium said that in its meeting held on Tuesday, it considered names of chief justices and senior judges of high courts eligible for appointment to the Supreme Court.
It added, “Judgments written by persons in the field under consideration for elevation to the Supreme Court were circulated among the members of the Collegium for meaningful discussion and assessment of their judicial skills.”
The four-page resolution said the Collegium carefully assessed the merit, integrity and competence of “eligible Chief Justices and Senior Deputy Justices of High Courts”.
The collegium also took note of the facts about “accommodating plurality of views” while finalizing the names of Justice Bindal and Justice Arvind Kumar as judges in the apex court.
Justice Bindal was appointed as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on March 22, 2006 and became the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court on October 11, 2021. India-Seniority of High Court Judges. He is the senior most judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
“While recommending his name, the Collegium has taken into account the fact that the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which is one of the largest High Courts with a sanctioned strength of eighty-five judges, has a substantial strength in the Bench of the Supreme Court. There is no representation. The High Court of Punjab and Haryana is a common High Court for the two states,” Sankalp said. Justice Arvind Kumar was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Karnataka High Court on June 26, 2009 and was made a permanent Judge on December 7, 2012.
“He was elevated as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Gujarat on 13 October 2021. Shri Justice Arvind Kumar is at no. No. 26 in the combined all-India seniority of High Court judges,” Sankalp said.
While recommending his name, the collegium is “conscious of the fact that in the seniority of judges coming from the Karnataka High Court, Shri Justice Arvind Kumar stands at Sr. No. 02”, adding that at present, the apex court is represented by by two judges of the Karnataka High Court.
The resolution said that while recommending the two names, the collegium has taken into account the seniority of chief justices and senior sub-judges in their parent high courts as well as the overall seniority of high court judges. The resolution stated that there was a need to ensure diversity and inclusion in the Supreme Court by ensuring “higher courts are not represented or are inadequately represented” in the apex court. It said the collegium, apart from gender diversity and representation of minorities, also considered that “persons from marginalized and backward sections of the society” are recommended for judgeship.
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