Centre clears appointment of 14 judges to Bombay HC

Bombay High Court. File Pic

Acting swiftly on the recommendation made by the Supreme Court Collegium, the Centre on Wednesday cleared the elevation of 14 advocates as judges of the Bombay High Court, reported news agency IANS.

"The President, after consultation with the Chief Justice of India (CJI), was pleased to appoint advocates Siddheshwar Sundarrao Thombre, Mehroz Ashraf Khan Pathan, Ranjitsinha Raja Bhonsale, Nandesh Shankarrao Deshpande, Amit Satyavan Jamsandekar, Ashish Sahadev Chavan, Sandesh Dadasaheb Patil, Smt. Vaishali Nimbajirao Patil-Jadhav, Abasaheb Dharmaji Shinde, Shreeram Vinayak Shirsat, Hiten Shamrao Venegavkar, Farhan Parvez Dubash, Rajnish Ratnakar Vyas and Raj Damodar Wakode as Additional Judges of the Bombay High Court for a period of two years," said the notification issued by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, reported IANS.

Last week, the Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai, recommended the elevation of these advocates as judges of the Bombay High Court.

As per the memorandum of procedure (MoP) governing the appointment of High Court judges, the proposal for the appointment should be initiated by the Chief Justice. If the Chief Minister wishes to recommend any name, it must be forwarded to the Chief Justice for consideration, reported IANS.

The Governor, as advised by the Chief Minister, should forward his recommendation along with the entire set of papers to the Union Minister of Law and Justice as early as possible, but not later than six weeks from the date of receipt of the proposal from the Chief Justice of the High Court. The proposal is then reviewed by the Centre along with other background inputs before being sent to the CJI, who consults the two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court before finalising a recommendation. Following the consultations, the CJI will, in the course of 4 weeks, send his recommendation to the Union Minister of Law and Justice, reported IANS.

As per the MoP, as soon as the warrant of appointment is signed by the President, the Secretary of the Department of Justice will inform the Chief Justice, and a copy of such communication will be sent to the Chief Minister. He will also announce the appointment and issue the necessary notification in the Gazette of India, reported IANS.

(With inputs from IANS)