A three-month delay in appointing the Chief Justice of Manipur High Court has led to a logjam in appointments in the Delhi High Court, The Indian Express has learnt. On June 5, the Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, had recommended Delhi High Court judge Siddharth Mridul for appointment as Chief Justice of Manipur High Court. As the second most senior judge of the Delhi High Court, Justice Mridul is also part of the three-member High Court Collegium that makes recommendations for appointment of judges. “It is basically a logjam in Delhi because the government cannot decide on Manipur. Delhi HC cannot send any names until this is resolved,” sources said. Sources said that as per convention, a judge expecting transfer orders does not participate in the Collegium deliberations. The High Court Collegium, apart from Justice Mridul, also comprises Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Manmohan. The Delhi High Court is the seventh largest High Court in terms of number of judges. According to data by the Department of Justice, the High Court, as of August 1, has 43 judges against a sanctioned strength of 60 judges. Among the 17 vacancies, six are for permanent judges while 11 are for additional judges. This is not the first time that there has been delay on the appointment of a full-time Chief Justice to the Manipur High Court though the post has been vacant since February 6 after Justice P Sanjay Kumar, then Chief Justice of the High Court, was appointed judge of the Supreme Court. Since then, Justice M V Muralidaran has been working as the Acting Chief Justice of the High Court. Days after ethnic clashes erupted in Manipur on May 3, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said one of the triggers for the clashes could have been the Manipur High Court’s “hasty decision” – in April, the High Court asked the state government to submit a recommendation to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Meitei community. Incidentally, that order was passed by a bench led by Acting CJ Muralidaran. On February 9, the Collegium had recommended Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, then a judge of the Bombay High Court, for appointment as Manipur HC Chief Justice. However, when the government did not make the appointment for three months, the Collegium in June withdrew its decision recommending his name. Justice Thakur was instead recommended for appointment as Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The Centre cleared that recommendation on July 24.
