Judicial appointments recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium for High Court judgeships in February 2025 are yet to be cleared by the Central government.
NEW DELHI: The Central government has yet to clear the appointments of four individuals recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium for High Court judgeships in February 2025. Despite the clearance of several other judicial appointments, including some that had been pending for years, these four names remain under scrutiny.
The Judicial Appointments Tracker provides a monthly update on the status of judicial recommendations from the time the Supreme Court Collegium forwards them until their final clearance by the Central government. Below is a detailed breakdown of the judicial appointments recommended in February 2025 and their current status.
Appointments Recommended and Cleared
February 5, 2025
On this date, the Supreme Court Collegium put forth multiple recommendations:
- Delhi High Court Appointments:
- Two judicial officers, Renu Bhatnagar and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta, were recommended for appointment as judges of the Delhi High Court.
- The Central government approved their appointments on February 19, and they took the oath as High Court judges on February 21.
- Permanent Judges for Telangana and Madras High Courts:
- The Collegium recommended that three additional judges of the Telangana High Court and two additional judges of the Madras High Court be made permanent judges.
- Telangana High Court:
- Justice Laxmi Narayana Alishetty
- Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti
- Justice Sujana Kalasikam
- Madras High Court:
- Justice Venkatachari Lakshminarayanan
- Justice Periyasamy Vadamala
- The Central government approved both sets of recommendations, confirming them as permanent judges.
February 20, 2025
- Patna High Court Appointments:
- The Collegium recommended the elevation of five advocates as judges:
- Alok Kumar Sinha
- Ritesh Kumar
- Soni Shrivastava
- Sourendra Pandey
- Ansul @ Anshul Raj
- The government cleared the appointments of Sinha, Pandey, and Shrivastava on March 7, but the names of Ritesh Kumar and Anshul Raj remain pending.
- Madras High Court Permanent Appointments:
- The Collegium recommended that four additional judges be confirmed as permanent judges.
- The government approved the recommendation on March 4.
- Bombay High Court Permanent Appointments and Tenure Extension:
- The Collegium recommended confirming three additional judges as permanent judges and extending the tenure of one additional judge for a further one year.
- The government cleared these recommendations on March 4.
February 25, 2025
- Calcutta High Court Appointments:
- The Collegium recommended the elevation of five advocates as judges:
- Smita Das De
- Reetobroto Kumar Mitra
- Md Talay Masood Siddiqui
- Krishnaraj Thaker
- Om Narayan Rai
- The government cleared the appointments of Das, Mitra, and Rai on March 8, but the names of Siddiqui and Thaker remain pending.
- The Collegium recommended the elevation of five advocates as judges:
Old Recommendations Cleared After Delay
In addition to the February recommendations, several long-pending judicial appointments were finally cleared by the Central government. These include:
- Rajasthan High Court:
- Advocate Maneesh Sharma was appointed as a judge, more than three years after his name was first recommended in October 2021.
- Delhi High Court:
- Tejas Karia, a Dispute Resolution Partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, was appointed as a judge after a delay of six months. His name was recommended in August 2024.
- Punjab and Haryana High Court:
- The government finally approved the appointments of advocates Harmeet Singh Grewal and Deepinder Singh Nalwa, whose names were first recommended in October 2023.
- Their recommendations were reiterated by the Collegium in January 2024, but it took over a year for the government to clear them on February 12, 2025.
- Other High Court Appointments Cleared on February 12, 2025:
- Uttarakhand High Court: Advocate Alok Mahra
- Karnataka High Court: Advocate Taj Ali Moulasab Nadaf
- Madhya Pradesh High Court: Advocate Ashish Shroti
- Calcutta High Court: Judicial Officer Chaitali Chatterjee (Das)
- Gauhati High Court: Judicial Officer Yarenjungla Longkumer
Some of these appointments had been delayed for over two years (Nadaf’s recommendation was made in January 2023), while others had been pending for more than 15 months (Mahra’s name was recommended in October 2023).
Final Summary of Judicial Appointments in February 2025
Appointments Cleared
- 8 judges recommended in February were cleared and appointed across three High Courts:
- Delhi High Court (2 judges)
- Patna High Court (3 judges)
- Calcutta High Court (3 judges)
- 9 other judges, whose recommendations were pending from 2023 and 2024, were also cleared.
Appointments Withheld
- Four individuals recommended in February have not yet been cleared:
- Ritesh Kumar (Patna High Court)
- Anshul Raj (Patna High Court)
- Md Talay Masood Siddiqui (Calcutta High Court)
- Krishnaraj Thaker (Calcutta High Court)
While the Central government has shown some progress in clearing long-pending judicial appointments, the withholding of certain names remains a point of concern in the judicial appointment process. The pending names continue to await final approval, with no specified timeline for clearance.
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