Govt clears only six of 16 names as HC judges

NEW DELHI: Days after the Supreme Court urged the Centre to frame a timeline for appointing judges to high courts and the apex court upon receiving recommendations of the collegium, the government has cleared only six of 16 names for high courts despite sitting on the proposals for over six months.

The government has cleared appointments of two judges in the Delhi high court and four in the Kerala high court while choosing not to clear some other names that have been pending for more than a year now, HT has learnt through people familiar with the matter.

According to people in the know, the government has cleared the names of advocates Jasmeet Singh and Amit Bansal as judges in the Delhi high court. Principal sessions judges Kauser Edappagath of Ernakulam and K Babu of Thiruvananthapuram and lawyers Ziyad Rahman and Murali Purushothaman will now be appointed as judges in the Kerala high court. The notifications for the appointment of these six judges are expected to be issued on Monday.

The SC collegium comprises the Chief Justice of India and the two most senior judges of the apex court in matters of appointment and transfer of high court judges.

The government had 16 names pending approval after the collegium’s recommendation. Even as it decided to clear the names sent in August 2020, it did not take any decision on the five names for the Calcutta high court, pending since July 2019, and one name for the Jammu and Kashmir high court, pending since October 2019.

The law ministry did not respond to queries about these pending names till the time of going to press.

APPOINTMENTS OF TWO JUDGES IN THE DELHI HIGH COURT AND FOUR IN THE KERALA HC CLEARED