Centre's pick & choose policy hits HC judge appointments
NEW DELHI: Advocate Ramaswamy Neelakandan prepared for life as a high court judge by returning case files to clients after the CJI-led Supreme Court collegium on Jan 17, 2023, recommended to Union govt to appoint him, along with four other advocates, including L C Victoria Gowri, as judges of Madras high court.
The Union govt appointed all of them as judges, except Neelakandan. Though names of the five advocates were sent by the SC collegium on the same day, the govt appointed them in batches - three on Feb 7, 2023, and the fourth on Feb 27, 2023.
Neelakandan, who belongs to the OBC community, shares his fate with 28 other advocates, whose names were recommended to the govt by the collegium between Jan 2023 and April this year. The Centre's pick and choose policy has left them in suspense - whether to resume practice or keep waiting for the Centre's nod to become an HC judge.
While Neelakandan's wait has stretched beyond 29 months, advocate Subhash Upadhyay, whose name was recommended by collegium on April 12, 2023, for judgeship in Uttarakhand HC, is waiting for his warrant of appointment for the last 26 months.
Along with Upadhyay, the collegium had recommended names of three advocates and a judicial officer for appointment as judges of the HC. Only Upadhyay's name was left out. Like him, advocate Arun Kumar is awaiting action on collegium's May 9, 2023, recommendation for his appointment as Allahabad HC judge.
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On Oct 17, 2023, the collegium recommended the names of five advocates for appointment as judges of Madhya Pradesh HC. Among them, only advocate Amit Seth is still awaiting appointment.
Of the 29 advocates still awaiting appointment as HC judges, five are women advocates. Among them, the one enduring the longest wait is advocate Shamima Jahan, whose name was recommended by the collegium on Jan 4, 2024, for appointment as a judge of Gauhati HC.
Other women advocates sharing Jahan's fate are Sreeja Vijayalakshmi (name recommended on April 16, 2024), Tajal Vashi (Oct 15, 2024; Gujarat HC), Shwetasree Majumder (Aug 21, 2024; Delhi HC), and Sheetal Mirdha (March 5, 2025; Rajasthan HC).
Despite successive chief justices, including the incumbent CJI B R Gavai, impressing upon the Union govt not to pick and choose from the list and avoid making staggered appointments from the same batch, the govt has not abandoned the practice which creates seniority issues in constitutional courts where merit and seniority are two crucial factors for career advancement.
Interestingly, the collegium's recommendations for appointment of judges to Supreme Court have been speedily processed and implemented by the govt, in some cases the appointments have come through within three days of the recommendation.
The collegium recommended to the govt on May 26 to appoint Justices N V Anjaria, Vijay Bishnoi and A S Chandurkar as judges of the SC. The three took oath as Supreme Court judges on May 30.
On May 26, the collegium recommended appointments of chief justices to five HCs, transfers of four HC CJs and transfer and repatriation of 22 HC judges. More than a month later, govt is yet to give effect to the appointments and transfers of HC CJs and judges.
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