Surya Kant to be HP high court CJ; 2nd woman judge for SC
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court collegium has recommended senior advocate Indu Malhotra and Uttarakhand chief justice KM Joseph be made judges of the country’s top court.
At a meeting on January 10, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and his four seniormost colleagues also promoted six judges as chief justices of high courts.
Justice Surya Kant of the Punjab and Haryana HC was picked to be the chief justice in Himachal Pradesh. The collegium also cleared the name of Abhilasha Kumari, daughter of former HP CM Virbhadra Singh as the next chief justice of Manipur high court. Once the Centre clears the two appointments, the vacancies in the top court would come down to four. Court vacancies have been a matter of bitter feud between the government and judiciary, who disagree on the procedure of appointment of the country’s top judges.
Malhotra, who specialises in arbitration, will be the first woman lawyer to be directly appointed to the Supreme Court.
Justice R Banumatahi is the only woman judge in the Supreme Court at present.
Justice Joseph, who was on the bench that in 2016 quashed the imposition of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand, has been awaiting transfer to Andhra Pradesh for almost a year.
Appointments, transfers and promotions of HC and SC judges have to cleared by the Centre. The government can return the recommendations for reconsideration just once.
Justice Surya Kant is third seniormost judge at the HC after the chief justice. Justice AK Mittal is at number two.
Surya Kant was presiding over the full bench in the Panchkula arson case and special bench in drug-related cases of Punjab.