New Delhi: In a rare move, the Supreme Court collegium has for the third time extended the tenure of six Calcutta High Court judges as additional judges.
In a meeting held on 18 August, the Chief Justice of India Suryakant-led collegium, also comprising justices Vikram Nath and B. V. Nagarathna, cleared the extension for six months and not the usual one year period.
These six judges served as judicial officers in the subordinate court before their elevation as Calcutta HC judges in July 2022.
ThePrint has learnt that the collegium did not consider these judges fit to become permanent HC judges due to the feedback it received on their performance and low quality of judgment writing.
At least two, with whom ThePrint spoke to, confirm the development, saying the decision was taken after their judgments were scrutinised.
The collegium members did not find any improvement in their judicial work and, therefore, refrained from confirming them as permanent judges.
“When these names were discussed, an opinion emerged that they should not be made permanent. But then the deliberations revolved around the tenure. Initially, it was suggested to extend it for one year, as was done in the last two years. However, after much discussions, the members thought it fit to give them an extension for six months,” one of the two sources quoted above said.
The collegium members were of the view that the additional judges should be given a six-month window to improve, instead of a one year extension. “If there is improvement in their judicial work, then they would be considered for the permanent post, else they would not be confirmed,” the second source said.
While two of the six Calcutta HC judges are aged 60, the others are in their mid 50s. This means, after six months, if the collegium does not recommend them to become permanent judges, chances are high they might be reverted to their positions in the district judiciary.
The six judges were amongst nine district judges who were promoted to the HC in July 2022. Their appointment was for two years as additional judges and they were administered oath on 31 August, 2022.
Two years later, in July 2024, the collegium reviewed the performance of all nine district judges and unanimously recommended their appointment as additional judges for a fresh term of one year. This was despite the state HC sending its recommendation to the SC collegium to appoint the judges as permanent.
However, after consulting colleagues on the bench, who were conversant with the affairs of the Calcutta HC, receiving a feedback from the committee of two judges, who assessed the judgements authored by these nine judges and scrutinising the material placed before it, the collegium said that the judges deserved “to be appointed as Additional Judges for a fresh term of one year”.
In July 2025, the collegium again reviewed the performance of the nine judges and cleared the two for permanent appointment. However, with regard to the remaining seven, the collegium reaffirmed their position as additional judges for a fresh term of one year.
This year, when the collegium took up the files of the seven judges, it approved one of them as a permanent judge. “With regard to the remaining six, the members were not convinced about their judicial work,” it said.
The government notification following the collegium resolution to extend their service by six months was issued on 28 August, just two days before their term was about to end.
Sources quoted above said this latest instance of yet another extension is an institutional response to ensure there is no compromise in the quality of judges on the bench.
“The six-month extension is an opportunity given to them to work upon themselves to produce better results while being on the bench. In the past, three of the nine judges from this batch that was appointed as additional judges in 2022 were confirmed, after the collegium got a positive feedback about their work. A similar procedure would be adopted in the case of these six judges as well,” the sources said.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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