Supreme Court Collegium recommends five judges as chief justices of High Courts

The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended names of five judges for appointment as chief justices of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka High Courts.

Justice Ravindra Bhat, a judge at the Delhi High Court, has been appointed chief justice Of Rajasthan High Court. The chief justice’s post fell vacant after Justice Pradeep Nandrajog was transferred to the Bombay High Court.

“While making the above recommendation, the Collegium is conscious of the fact that consequent upon the proposed appointment, there will be three Chief Justices from Delhi High Court, which has the special distinction of being the High Court for the national Capital,” the collegium said.

The Collegium is headed by Chief Justice Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and comprised Justices SA Bobde and NV Ramana. The collegium passes resolutions on April 8 and it was uploaded on the Supreme Court’s website on Wednesday.

The Collegium recommended Justice PR Ramachandra Menon, Justice AK Mittal, Justice Vikram Nath and Justice AS Oka as chief justices of Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka High Courts.

Menon is the senior-most judge at the Kerala High Court. He will replace Justice AK Tripathi, who resigned after he was appointed member of the Lokpal. Mittal is the senior-most judge from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He will replace Justice MY Mir, who retired, as chief justice of the Meghalaya High Court.

Nath is the most senior judge at Allahabad High Court and was named the first chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The new high court for Andhra Pradesh was created on January 1. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had a combined high court in Hyderabad since the bifurcation of the state on June 2, 2014.

Oka, the senior-most judge from Bombay High Court, will replace Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, who was elevated to the Supreme Court, as chief justice of the Karnataka High Court.