SC reiterated 3 names for HC judge posts in August. Month later, files still stuck with Centre

Names of three district judges were reiterated by Supreme Court on 24 August for elevation to Allahabad High Court. Two of them have already retired from service.

File photo of the Supreme Court of India | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

New Delhi: More than a month after the Supreme Court Collegium reiterated names of three judicial officers for elevation as judges in the Allahabad High Court, the central government is yet to notify their appointments.

This delay is in violation of the norms set by the top court in a judgment in April, which had fixed an upper limit of three to four weeks for appointments to high courts when names are reiterated by the collegium.

The names of the three district judges in contention — Om Prakash Tripathi, Shri Umesh Chandra Sharma and Syed Waiz Mian — were reiterated on 24 August by the SC Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, overruling the Centre’s objections to them.

The appointment panel had first nominated the three judges for elevation as HC judges in February this year, but their files were sent back by the central government.

Another district judge, Anil Kumar Gupta, was also part of the initial list but his name was not reiterated since he would have held office only for a short stint of about four months if appointed. High court judges can remain in office only till the age of 62.

However, time is also running out for Tripathi and Mian who retired this year. District judges retire two years earlier than HC judges, at the age of 60.

Tripathi demitted office as district and sessions judge in Varanasi on 31 July while Mian’s tenure as district and session judge of Amroha ended on 31 January. District judge Sharma, meanwhile, is due to retire on 31 December.

Delay by central government in forwarding files to SC

The four judges were part of a list of 11 names that were cleared by the SC Collegium in February this year. At the time, the panel was headed by then CJI S.A. Bobde. Justice Ramana was also a member.

Sources in the Supreme Court said the central government took close to a year to forward the judges’ files to the collegium for approval.

According to the Memorandum of Purpose, the rulebook followed while making appointments in higher judiciary, the SC can recommend names for elevation only after the Centre forwards the proposals received from the high court collegiums.

The sources further noted that the Allahabad HC Collegium had sent names of 10 service judges on 19 December 2019 and one on 12 February 2020 but the central government forwarded them to SC only in December 2020.

On 4 February this year, the SC collegium passed its resolution to elevate the 11 judges even though six of them had already demitted office. This was done because they were serving judges when the HC had proposed their elevation.

Although the law does not prohibit a retired district judge from becoming a HC judge, their appointment after retirement affects the length of their tenure.

7 appointments in March

The law ministry, on 22 March this year, notified the appointment of seven judges to the high court — Justices Mohammad Aslam, Anil Kumar Ojha, Sadhna Rani (Thakur), Naveen Srivastava, Syed Aftab Hussain Rizvi, Ajai Tyagi and Ajai Kumar Srivastav — who took oath on 25 March.

However, four of these seven judges will hold office for less than two years, some of them for less than a year.

Justice Aslam, who served as district judge till 31 January 2021, will hold office for 22 months while Justice Tyagi who retired on 31 December 2020, will also have a tenure of less than two years.

Justice Ojha, who retired on 31 July 2020 will serve for a little over a year before retiring on 1 July 2022 and Justice Srivastava, who became a high court judge more than a year after he retired on 31 December 2019, will be in office for just nine months.

Former district judges Tripathi and Mian, meanwhile, had not demitted office when the SC Collegium recommended them for elevation in February.

But the time taken by the Centre to return the files, done only this August, to the collegium for reconsideration cost them their tenure as HC judges.

If the government expedites appointments, Tripathi will serve till 21 July 2023, while Mian’s term will end on 1 January 2023.