SC collegium recommends 7 names for appointment as judges in Madhya Pradesh HC

The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on Wednesday recommended the names of seven district judges for appointment as judges of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The collegium, which also includes Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph, recommended the names of Roopesh Chandra Varshney, Anuradha Shukla, Sanjeev Sudhakar Kalgaonkar, Prem Narayan Singh, Achal Kumar Paliwal, Hirdesh, and Avnindra Kumar Singh.

The resolution stated that on November 23, 2022, the Chief Justice of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh recommended the elevation of these seven judicial officers as judges of the court in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues.

The chief minister and the governor of Madhya Pradesh have endorsed the recommendations and the file was received in the Supreme Court from the Department of Justice on April 7, the resolution said.

"In terms of the Memorandum of Procedure, in order to ascertain the fitness and suitability of the candidates for elevation to the high court, the judge of the Supreme Court conversant with the affairs of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh has been consulted," it said.

The collegium said that for the purpose of assessing the merit and suitability of the candidates for elevation to the high court, it has scrutinised the material placed on record, including the observations made by the Department of Justice in the file as well as the complaints received against the candidates.

"We have also taken note of the fact that the above proposal involves non-recommendation of two senior judicial officers. In this regard, the high court collegium has duly recorded reasons for not recommending the names of these judicial officers,: the collegium said.

"We are in agreement with the justification given by the High Court collegium in its minutes for not recommending these senior judicial officers," it said.

In another decision, the Supreme Court collegium has also recommended the name of a judicial officer and three advocates as judges of the Uttarakhand High Court.

The judicial officer whose name has been recommended is Vivek Bharti Sharma. Advocates Rakesh Thapliyal, Pankaj Purohit, and Subhash Upadhyay have also been recommended for appointment as judges to the high court.

In the third resolution, the collegium has recommended the name of Judicial Officer Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal for appointment as a judge of the Chhattisgarh High Court.

The collegium noted that at present, there is no judge in the Supreme Court conversant with the affairs of the Chhattisgarh High Court to assist it in the process of ascertaining the suitability of the candidate.

"For the purpose of assessing the merit and suitability of the candidate for elevation to the high court, we have scrutinised and evaluated the material placed on record. We have also perused the observations made by the Department of Justice in the file as well as the complaint received against the candidate.

"The Intelligence Bureau has reported that he enjoys good personal and professional image and that nothing adverse has come to notice against his integrity," it said.

The collegium also said that the Department of Justice has not pointed out anything adverse in regard to his suitability for elevation.

"He belongs to the OBC category. Having regard to these aspects, the collegium is of the considered opinion that Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal is suitable for appointment as a judge of the High Court of Chhattisgarh," the collegium said.