Plea against Justice Kureshi's appointment as Tripura HC chief to remain pending in SC

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to keep pending a plea of Gujarat High Court Advocates Association relating to the appointment of Justice Akil Kureshi as Chief Justice of Tripura High Court.

The petition will be lying before the court till the Centre notifies Kureshi's appointment as Chief Justice of Tripura High Court, a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices SA Bobde and S Abdul Nazeer said.

Justice Kureshi was first recommended to be appointed as Madhya Pradesh Chief Justice only to be later recommended as the Chief Justice of Tripura High Court.

The bench observed that matters related to appointment, posting, and transfer of judges is "an aspect of independence of the judiciary and any interference would not augur well for the institution".

"Matters of appointment, posting, and transfer of judges goes to the root of administration of justice and therefore the power of judicial review is severely limited... Interference in the system of administration of justice does not augur well for the institution," the bench said.

Gujarat High Court Advocates' Association is seeking the court's direction to the Central government to implement the collegium's recommendation to appoint Justice Kureshi as Madhya Pradesh HC Chief Justice.

Kureshi was appointed as a judge at Gujarat High Court in 2004 and was functioning as acting Chief Justice of the high court when he was transferred to Bombay High Court in November 2018, the said advocates in their plea.