NEW JUDGES FOR SUPREME COURT

The five-member Supreme Court Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, on Tuesday recommended to the government the names of Rajesh Bindal and Aravind Kumar, Chief Justices of the Allahabad and Gujarat High Courts, respectively, for appointment as judges in the top court.
The court has seven vacancies now. It has a sanctioned judicial strength of 34. The collegium’s December 13 recommendation on Justices Pankaj Mithal, Sanjay Karol, P.V. Sanjay Kumar and Ahsanuddin Amanullah is still pending with the government.
“Where are the judges… let us wait for some more judges,” Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud was heard telling a lawyer who had sought an early hearing of his case during the mentioning hour on Tuesday.
In its four-page resolution, the collegium has given no room for the government to tinker with seniority among the seven judges by bifurcating their names or by appointing one over the other.

December resolution

“The names recommended earlier by the collegium by its resolution dated December 13, 2022 shall have precedence over the two names [Justices Bindal and Kumar] recommended presently for appointment to the Supreme Court. Therefore, the appointments of five judges recommended on December 13, 2022 should be notified separately and earlier in point of time before the two judges recommended by this resolution,” the five-member collegium said categorically.
While the resolution of the collegium with regard to the appointment of Justice Bindal was “unanimous”, Justice Joseph was of the opinion that Justice Aravind Kumar could be considered at a later stage.
On the choice of Justice Bindal, the collegium reasoned that he was number two in the all-India seniority of High Court judges and was the senior-most judge from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
“While recommending his name, the collegium has taken into consideration the fact that the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which is one of the largest High Courts with a sanctioned strength of 85 judges, is not adequately represented on the Bench of the Supreme Court. The High Court of Punjab and Haryana is a common High Court for two States,” the collegium noted.

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB

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