Govt clears names of three judges as CJS of high courts

AFTER MONTHS of wait, the NDA government has cleared the appointment of Justice I A Ansari as Chief Justice of Patna High Court, Justice D B Bhosale as Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court and Justice S J Vazifdar as Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court.

The warrants of appointment are expected to be issued soon.

While the Supreme Court collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India T S Thakur, had recommended Justice Ansari’s name a few months ago, his appointment was not cleared by the Union Law Ministry.

The Centre has also accepted the recommendations of the collegium to transfer Justice Indira Banerjee from Calcutta High Court to Delhi High Court and Justice M M Shantanagoudar from Karnataka High Court to Kerala High Court.

Meanwhile, giving in to suggestion made by the Centre, the Supreme Court collegium is learnt to have recommended the transfer of two judges from Rajasthan High Court back to the Punjab & Haryana High Court.

The Centre had told the collegium that it was not advisable to have several judges of the same high court in another high court.

Justices Jaishree Thakur and Anupinder Singh Grewal were transferred to Rajasthan from the Punjab & Haryana High Court, soon after they were elevated as judges from the bar. After their transfer, the number of judges from the Punjab & Haryana High Court at the Rajasthan High Court had risen to five; six if one includes the previous Chief Justice S K Mittal.

While recommending elevation of Justice Thakur and Justice Grewal from additional judges to permanent judges, the collegium had informed the government that steps to transfer them back would be taken when the two are made permanent. Now, it has recommended their transfer back to the Punjab & Haryana High Court.