Collegium recommends 16 names for high courts

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana, has recommended 16 names for elevation as judges of the high courts of Bombay, Gujarat, Orissa and Punjab and Haryana.

In its meeting held on Wednesday, the collegium approved the proposal for elevation of 16 names — six judicial officers and 10 advocates as judges of the four high courts.

As per the statements uploaded on the Supreme Court website on Thursday, the collegium has approved the proposal for elevation of four judicial officers as judges of the Bombay high court. Similarly, the collegium has recommended names of two advocates, two judicial officers for their elevation as judges of the Orissa high court.

For the Gujarat high court, the collegium has approved the proposal for elevation of seven advocates while proposal for elevation of one lawyer in the Punjab and Haryana high court has been approved as well.

The collegium has recommended a total of 82 names for appointment in various high courts since April, when justice Ramana took the helm.

At present, eight out of 25 high courts were working without regular chief justices.

The collegium, which includes justices Uday U Lalit, AM Khanwilkar, Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao, also set in motion a major shake-up by recommending the transfer of five chief justices, besides reshuffling more than two dozen other judges of the high courts.

The sanctioned strength of judges across 25 high courts in India is 1,098. Of these, 465 posts (more than 42% of total strength) were vacant as of September 1.