The Supreme Court collegium has given its nod to the elevation of six judicial officers to the Madras High Court, rejected three others and deferred one. The names were recommended by the HC Chief Justice in consultation with two of his seniormost colleagues and had the concurrence of the Chief Minister and Governor. Collegium proceedings uploaded on Supreme Court website on Friday say those rejected are A Zakir Hussain, additional chief metropolitan magistrate, Egmore, Chennai; K Arul, district judge and additional director, Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy; and Vasudevan V Nadathur, judicial member of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Kolkata. Supreme Court opens a window to itself, starts to disclose appointment decisions In case of the first two, the collegium comprising CJI Dipak Misra and Justices J Chelameswar and Ranjan Gogoi, which met on October 3, recorded that “keeping in view the material on record, including the report of Intelligence Bureau”, they were “not found suitable for elevation to the High Court Bench”. On Nadathur, the collegium found that his name was “also recommended by Collegium of the Calcutta High Court on November 28, 2016 and the Government of West Bengal has expressed its disagreement”. The judges said that records showed that the Bombay HC collegium too had initiated a proposal for his elevation, but it was rejected by the SC collegium on August 1, 2013. “A complaint pointing out this fact has also been received in the office of the Chief Justice of India,” the collegium said. The proposal for elevation of B Sarodjiny Devy, principal district judge, Villupuram, was “deferred.(as) inquiry is pending against her in the High Court”. SC uploads collegium decisions: ‘Good step, but process of selection must be transparent’
