New Delhi: Elevation of Patna High Court Chief Justice Vipul M. Pancholi to the Supreme Court was approved after two consultee top court judges gave a favorable opinion of him, ThePrint has learnt.
Highly placed sources in the apex court told ThePrint that the Supreme Court Collegium recommended Justice Pancholi’s name for elevation only after consulting two sitting judges who have served in the Patna HC.
“Justice Vinod Chandran, who served there as the Chief Justice before he came to the Supreme Court and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah whose parent high court is Patna, shared their inputs about Justice Pancholi in writing. Both had backed his elevation to the Supreme Court,” one of the sources said.
Their inputs were weighed in by the Collegium at the time of finalising the names for elevation to the top court. Justice Pancholi’s appointment has sparked a controversy in view of Justice B.V. Nagarathna—who is a member of the Supreme Court Collegium—submitting a dissenting note opposing his elevation.
Besides objecting to him superseding many senior judges, Justice Nagarathna flagged Justice Pancholi’s transfer from the Gujarat HC to the Patna HC in 2023 and sought its further examination.
At present, CJI Gavai leads the Collegium, which comprises Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, J.K. Maheshwari and Nagarathna as its members. Given that Justice Nagarathna was the sole dissenting voice, Justice Pancholi’s recommendation was cleared by a 4:1 majority.
Besides Justice Pancholi, the Collegium also took a decision to elevate Bombay High Court Chief Justice Alok Aradhe to the top court.
Justice Aradhe’s parent cadre is the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The Centre Wednesday notified names of both judges for their appointment to the top court, two days after the Collegium’s recommendation. Their oath-taking ceremony is expected to take place Friday, it is learnt.
“Whenever a high court judge is proposed to be elevated to the Supreme Court, the Collegium calls for opinion from Supreme Court judges who were formerly part of the high court from which the elevation is proposed,” said another source.
Adding, “Both Justice Chandran and Justice Amanullah were elevated to the Supreme Court from the Patna High Court and were, therefore, consulted about Justice Pancholi, who is at present there.”
Justice Pancholi was transferred from Gujarat HC to Patna HC in 2023.
Referring to the circumstances under which he was moved out of the Gujarat HC, Justice Nagarathna, it is learnt, mentioned in her dissenting note that the same needs to be relooked at.
However, according to the sources, Justice Pancholi’s transfer from Gujarat HC to Patna HC came after a complaint of judicial impropriety against him. “He was transferred pending an enquiry being held into a complaint against him. However, he was given a clean chit in that enquiry. Despite that he was not brought back to the Gujarat HC,” said the first source.
The sources who spoke to ThePrint hinted that Justice Pancholi’s transfer was a result of an internal rift in the judiciary at that time.
The 29 September, 2022 recommendation of the Supreme Court Collegium to transfer him to Patna HC had met with stiff opposition from the Gujarat HC lawyers. His transfer was notified only in May 2023.
In a representation to the then CJI, the Gujarat High Court Advocates’ Association (GHAA) had urged the Supreme Court Collegium to reconsider its transfer resolution. It said GHAA members were of the “unanimous view” that Justice Pancholi “is true to the oath he has taken for upholding the Constitution of India”.
With regard to Justice Nagarathna’s objection to Gujarat having three judges in the top court, sources said it was not unusual for a high court to have larger representation compared to others.
“Supreme Court has had three judges from Gujarat in the past as well. With Justice Aradhe’s elevation, there will be three judges from Madhya Pradesh,” said the second source.
As far as supersession is concerned, the sources explained that seniority alone has never been the criterion to appoint judges to the Supreme Court. “A host of issues need to be seen. And in this case Justice Pancholi was chosen to ensure line of succession in the Supreme Court. This has been done in the past as well,” the first source explained.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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