Chief justices appointed in five high courts

NEW DELHI: Two days after the Supreme Court once again questioned the delay in appointment of judges, five chief justices were appointed in different high courts

NEW DELHI: Two days after the Supreme Court once again questioned the delay in appointment of judges, five chief justices were appointed in different high courts on Friday evening.

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In separate notifications, the law ministry’s department of justice notified the appointments of chief justices of the high courts of Calcutta, Kerala, Sikkim, Tripura and Manipur.

Justice Girish Chandra Gupta of the Calcutta high court was elevated to head the same court where he has been serving as the acting CJ while Justice Satish Kumar Agnihotri of the Sikkim high court has been appointed its CJ.

All judges have been elevated in the high courts they are currently in: Justice Tinlianthang Vaiphei as CJ Tripura high court, Justice Rakesh Ranjan Prasad of the Manipur high court and Justice Shantanagoudar Mohan Mallikarjunagouda of the Kerala high court.

Of the 75 names cleared by the SC collegium for appointment as judges in 24 high courts across the country, 35 vacancies are likely to be filled by the end of the month, sources in the ministry said.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had on Wednesday told the apex court that “there is progress in the appointments...We will see more progress.”

The judiciary has been at loggerheads with the executive over delay in appointments. “Once we start the process, there should not be delay or it should be stalled. It has to move forward,” CJI TS Thakur told the AG.

“There is no blame game. There is no logjam in the system. It’s like a race, if you start in time, you will reach in time. The high courts, by and large, were pretty much delayed in starting the race. The process to fill up five year, six year old vacancies have been started late,” the Attorney General told the court on Wednesday.