Collegium clears names of 5 HC chief justices

Justices Mohammed Rafiq and Ravi Ranjan have been appointed as chief justices of Meghalaya and Jharkhand respectively.

The Supreme Court collegium on Tuesday cleared appointments of chief justices to the high courts of Meghalaya and Jharkhand and transferred chief justices of three high courts -- Madras, Madhya Pradesh and Patna.

The Supreme Court collegium on Tuesday cleared appointments of chief justices to the high courts of Meghalaya and Jharkhand. (Sonu Mehta/HT PHOTO)

Justices Mohammed Rafiq and Ravi Ranjan have been appointed as chief justices of Meghalaya and Jharkhand respectively. AP Sahi, the chief justice of the Patna high court will now be chief justice of the Madras high court; chief justice of the Tripura high court Sanjay Karol will take over as chief justice of the Patna high court; and chief justice of the Meghalaya high court , AK Mittal, will take over as the chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh high court.

Justice Karol was on August 28 cleared by the collegium to take over as the chief justice of the Jharkhand high court, but almost two months later, he has been asked to take over as chief justice of the Patna high court. The collegium resolution posted on the Supreme Court website does not disclose the reason for the change.

This is the second time in the last six months that the Supreme Court collegium, comprising the top three judges of the apex court, has revisited its earlier recommendation.

Earlier, in May, the collegium recommended the name of justice Akhil Kureshi as chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh high court, but following objections by the government to the appointment, the order was modified and justice Kureshi’s name was cleared for appointment as chief justice of the Tripura high court.

On Tuesday, the collegium also cleared fresh appointments of judges to the Meghalaya, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Gauhati.