SC collegium recommends judges' names to Centre for appointment in 3 HCs

The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud has recommended to the Centre the names of three advocates for appointment as judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

The three-member collegium, which also comprised Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, held the meeting on Tuesday and also decided to recommend the names of four senior judicial officers as judges of the Kerala High Court.

It, by way of a separate resolution, recommended to the Centre the name of Justice Siddaiah Rachaiah, an additional judge of the Karnataka High Court, as a permanent Judge of the same high court.

"The Collegium resolves to recommend that S/Shri (i) Maheswara Rao Kuncheam @ Kuncham, (ii) Thoota Chandra Dhana Sekar @ T C D Sekhar, and (iii) Challa Gunaranjan, advocates, be appointed as Judges of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. Their inter se seniority be fixed as per the existing practice," the October 15 resolution said.

They all are practising as lawyers in the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

Their names were recommended for judgeship on May 15, 2024 by the collegium headed by the chief Justice of the high court in consultation with the two senior-most judges. In a separate resolution uploaded on the apex court web site on October 15, the collegium said,

"The Collegium resolves to recommend that S/Shri (i) K V Jayakumar, (ii) Muralee Krishna S, (iii) Jobin Sebastian, and (iv) P V Balakrishnan, Judicial Officers, be appointed as Judges of the High Court of Kerala," it said.

Referring to an earlier recommendation on appointment of judges in the Kerala High Court, the apex court on Tuesday said, "By recommendation dated 10 October 2023, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended names of five Judicial Officers, including the name of Shri P Krishna Kumar, for elevation as judges of the high court of Kerala.

Out of these, four judicial officers have been appointed, it added.

"However, nothing has been intimated by the Government to the Collegium with regard to the status of Shri P Krishna Kumar. The Collegium, therefore, resolves that the four Judicial Officers whose names are recommended above shall rank, in the appointment order, below Shri P Krishna Kumar and their inter se seniority shall be fixed in that order," it said.

It also asked the Centre to appoint additional judge Justice Siddaiah Rachaiah as a permanent Judge of that Karnataka High Court.

"The above recommendation may be processed expeditiously as the term of Mr Justice Siddaiah Rachaiah as an additional judge is going to expire on 7 November 2024," the collegium resolution said.