Collegium sends names of 5 High Court judges to Govt: Elevate to Supreme Court

It comes at a time when the Law Minister has criticised the Collegium system as being “opaque” and the Vice-President has called the Court’s 2015 judgement striking down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act a “severe compromise” of parliamentary sovereignty and disregard of the “mandate of the people”.

The Collegium recommended the appointment of Justice Pankaj Mithal, Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court; Justice Sanjay Karol, Chief Justice of Patna High Court; Justice PV Sanjay Kumar, Chief Justice of Manipur High Court; Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Judge of the Patna High Court; Justice Manoj Mishra, Judge of the Allahabad High Court, for appointment as Supreme Court judges.

Sources told The Indian Express that the Collegium was of the view that fresh recommendations would be made only after Justice Datta’s name was cleared. Justice Datta’s name was recommended by the Collegium headed by then Chief Justice of India U U Lalit on September 26.

If appointed, Justice Mithal, whose parent HC is the Allahabad HC, will have a tenure of over three years until June 2026. Justice Karol, whose parent HC is the Himachal Pradesh HC, will also have a similar tenure until August 2026. Justice Kumar, whose parent HC is the Telangana HC, will have a tenure of almost five years until August 2028.

If appointed, Justice Amanullah, currently the second most senior judge of the Patna HC, will have a tenure until May 2028. With SC judges Justices Abdul Nazeer and KM Joseph, both members of the Collegium, retiring on January 4, 2023 and June 16, 2023 respectively, Justice Amanullah will add to the minority representation in the top court. Apart from Justices Nazeer and Joseph, Justice JB Pardiwala is the only other person from a minority community in the Supreme Court.

Justice Mishra, currently the third most senior judge of the Allahabad HC, will have a slightly longer tenure of almost seven years. If appointed to the top court, he will retire in June 2030.