Collegium recommends chief justices for 4 HCs

The fourth recommendation of the collegium pertained to an anticipated vacancy in the Tripura high court.

New Delhi The collegium has recommended the appointment of full-time chief justices in the high courts of Himachal Pradesh, Patna, Gauhati, and Tripura.

The collegium in the top court comprised Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, and justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and KM Joseph. (HT Archive)

As reported by HT on Wednesday, a woman judge -- justice Sabina, has been recommended as the chief justice of the Himachal Pradesh high court. She was appointed as the acting chief justice of the same high court last month following the retirement of justice Amjad Ahtesham Sayed. She also previously served as the acting chief justice of the court between May and June. Justice Sabina will be the only woman chief justice across the 25 high courts if the government clears her appointment.

The collegium in the top court comprised Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, and justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and KM Joseph. It also proposed the appointment of Kerala HC judge K Vinod Chandran as the chief justice of the Patna HC, after recalling its previous recommendation to make him the chief of Gauhati HC.

For the Gauhati HC, the collegium has now recommended the name of Rajasthan high court judge Sandeep Mehta. “The Rajasthan high court is unrepresented among the chief justices of the high courts,” stated the collegium resolution released on Wednesday evening.

The fourth recommendation of the collegium pertained to an anticipated vacancy in the Tripura high court. On January 25, the collegium recalled its September 2022 recommendation to elevate Orissa high court judge Jaswant Singh as the chief justice of the same high court, and instead proposed his appointment as the chief justice of the Tripura high court.

Since justice Singh is scheduled to retire on February 22, the collegium resolved that, after his retirement, Jharkhand high court judge Aparesh Kumar Singh should take over. The Union government, however, is yet to approve justice Singh for the Tripura high court.

The collegium met on Tuesday evening to finalise the appointment of chief justices in various high courts. With the elevation of three high court chief justices to the Supreme Court on Monday, there are now 10 high courts in the country without full-time chiefs.

Justices Pankaj Mithal (Rajasthan high court chief justice), Sanjay Karol (Patna high court chief justice) and PV Sanjay Kumar (Manipur high court chief justice) were on Monday appointed to the top court.

Seven other high courts were already being administered by acting chief justices. Some big high courts such as Bombay and Madras do not have full-time chief justices for a considerably long time.