Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court collegium is learnt to have proposed the promotion and/or transfer of as many as 28 high court judges, including eight elevations as chief justices and five transfers of sitting chief justices. According to sources, a three-member collegium headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana recommended the promotion and transfer of acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court Justice Rajesh Bindal as Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court.
Interestingly, Tripura High Court Justice Akil Kureshi, who was overlooked for promotion to the Supreme Court a few weeks ago though he was second in all-India seniority, is proposed to be transferred to the Rajasthan High Court. Whether the Centre will accept the recommendation remains to be seen, as it had spiked an earlier proposal to appoint him as chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Sitting Chief Justice of Rajasthan Justice Indrajit Mohanty is proposed to swap places with Justice Kureshi in Tripura. Justice Mohanty is due to retire in November this year. The other proposed transfers of CJs are Justice Arup Kumar Goswami from Andhra Pradesh to Chhattisgarh, Justice Mohammad Rafiq from Madhya Pradesh to Himachal Pradesh, and Justice Biswanath Somadder from Meghalaya to Sikkim.
Those recommended for elevation as chief justices include Justice Prashan Kumar Mishra for Andhra HC, Justice Prakash Srivastava for Calcutta; Justice Aravind Kumar for Gujarat; Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi for Karnataka; Justice R V Malimath for Madhya Pradesh; Justice Ranjit V More for Meghalaya and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma for Telangana. The recommendations came shortly after 68 names for judgeship in 12 HCs were cleared in one shot.
