New Delhi: The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit has recommended to the Centre to transfer two High Court Chief Justices, while three more judges have been recommended for elevation. The judges to be transferred include Justice S Muralidhar, the Chief Justice (CJ) of Orissa High Court, and Justice Pankaj Mithal, Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court. They have been recommended to be appointed as the CJs of Madras and Rajasthan high courts respectively.
The apex court collegium, which also comprised Justices D Y Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul, has come out with separate statements to this effect and also recommended the names of three high court judges for being elevated as chief justices of Orissa, Karnataka, and Jammu and Kashmir high courts.
The collegium has recommended the name of Justice Jaswant Singh, Justice P B Varale, and Ali Mohammad Magrey as Chief Justices of Orissa, Karnataka, and Jammu and Kashmir high courts respectively for elevation.
Justice Muralidhar was appointed the judge of the Delhi High Court in 2006 and in 2020 he was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Later he was elevated as the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court on January 4, 2021.
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Justice Mittal was appointed as an additional judge of Allahabad High Court in 2006 and in 2008 he was made a permanent judge. He was appointed as Chief Justice of the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court in December 2020.
Justice Singh was elevated to the bench in 2007 as a judge in the Punjab and Haryana High Court before being transferred to Orissa High Court in 2021. While Justice Varale is the senior-most judge at Bombay High Court, appointed on July 18, 2008. Whereas Justice Magrey was appointed a judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in March 2013.
The Collegium has also recommended the transfer of three High Court judges to different High Courts. Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra from Uttarakhand High Court, who was the senior-most in the High Court has now been transferred to Jharkhand High Court. Justice K Vinod Chandran from the Kerala High Court, who was the senior-most in the High Court has been transferred to Bombay High Court. He was made a permanent judge on June 24, 2013. Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh from Jharkhand High Court, who was the senior-most in the High Court has been transferred to Tripura High Court. (With Agency Inputs)
