[dropcap]T[/dropcap]HE Supreme Court Collegium has recommended appointment of five Chief Justices in the High Courts of Madras, Madhya Pradesh, Patna, Meghalaya, and Jharkhand.
The top court in a statement issued on Thursday informed that the Collegium in its meeting held on October 15, 2019, on reconsideration and in modification of its earlier recommendations dated August 28, 2019, had decided to recommend the transfer of the three Chief Justices of the High Courts.
Chief Justice of Patna High Court A P Sahi has been recommended for the transfer as the Chief Justice of Madras High Court.
Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court AK Mittal has been recommended for the transfer as the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Chief Justice of Tripura High Court Sanjay Karol has been recommended for the transfer as the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court.
Earlier, the Collegium had recommended name of Justice AK Mittal and Justice Sanjay Karol as the Chief Justices of the Madras High Court and Jharkhand High Court respectively. The recommendations have now been modified to the above effect for the reasons not available in the public domain.
In addition, the Collegium has recommended appointment of Justice Mohammad Rafiq of Rajasthan High Court as the Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court, whereas Justice Dr. Ravi Ranjan of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has been recommended for the appointment as the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court.
Pertinently, in a significant departure from the practice that has been followed over the last two years, the Supreme Court Collegium this time has not made available the resolution passed by the Collegium while making the above recommendations. A statement has been uploaded on the Court’s website instead.
In October 2017, the Supreme Court Collegium headed by the then CJI Dipak Misra had for the first time decided to make its resolutions public.
A statement issued back then read:
“That the decisions henceforth taken by the Collegium indicating the reasons shall be put on the website of the Supreme Court, when the recommendation(s) is/are sent to the Government of India, with regard to the cases relating to initial elevation to the High Court Bench, confirmation as permanent Judge(s) of the High Court, elevation to the post of Chief Justice of High Court, transfer of High Court Chief Justices / Judges and elevation to the Supreme Court, because on each occasion the material which is considered by the Collegium is different.
The resolution is passed to ensure transparency and yet maintain confidentiality in the Collegium system.”
The reasons for undoing the practice of putting Collegium’s resolution on the website is not yet known.
