Out of 26 names cleared by the Supreme Court Collegium, the Centre approved 24 for the Allahabad High Court. Advocates Adnan Ahmad and Jai Krishna Upadhyay were kept pending, raising concerns over selective appointments.
On Friday, the Union Government appointed 24 new judges to the Allahabad High Court, but it withheld the names of two lawyers who were recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium. Among them was the only Muslim candidate in the list, Adnan Ahmad.
Earlier, on September 1 this year, the Supreme Court Collegium—comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai and Justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath—had recommended the elevation of 26 people to the Allahabad High Court. These included 12 advocates and 14 judicial officers.
In this list, the Collegium also included the names of senior Supreme Court advocates Garima Prashad and Swarupama Chaturvedi.
Garima Prashad is currently the Additional Advocate General for Uttar Pradesh in the Supreme Court, while Swarupama Chaturvedi has served as an Additional Advocate General for the State of Madhya Pradesh.
Out of the 24 judges appointed by the government, five are women. The Allahabad High Court has an approved strength of 160 judges, which includes 119 permanent and 41 additional judges. But as of September 1, the court had only 84 sitting judges.
The Centre, however, did not approve the names of advocates Adnan Ahmad and Jai Krishna Upadhyay. It is still unclear whether these names have been formally sent back to the Collegium or are just being delayed.
The delay creates a major issue of seniority for these two advocates. If they are appointed later, their seniority will be compromised, something the Collegium did not intend.
In fact, in the recommendation list of 27 names, Adnan Ahmad was placed at serial number 2, and Jai Krishna Upadhyay was at serial number 8. Their exclusion now changes the seniority structure entirely.
CJI Gavai had earlier cautioned the Union government to avoid such selective actions. He had clearly emphasised that appointments and transfers should not be cleared
“in installments or by segregating names.”
Despite repeated reminders from the Supreme Court, the Modi government has been accused of “picking and choosing” from Collegium recommendations.
This issue is not new. On November 7, 2023, while hearing a contempt petition against the Union government for not clearing transfers and appointments of judges, a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia (both now retired) expressed concern about the government’s approach.
The bench observed:
“Once these people have already been appointed as judges, where they perform judicial duties should not really be a matter of concern to the government, and we hope that a situation will not arise where this court or the Collegium has to take a decision that would not be palatable.”
After this sharp observation, the Union government cleared some transfers but still delayed others. Out of 11 judges whose transfers were pending, the government moved on only five, while holding back the rest.
In the present case, from the 26 names recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium for the Allahabad High Court (12 advocates + 14 judicial officers), the government cleared 24 names.
The two names withheld were Adnan Ahmad and Jai Krishna Upadhyay. This shows that not just a Muslim lawyer, but also a Hindu lawyer’s name was kept pending.
Although the Centre has appointed 24 judges, the fact that the two names have not been cleared has once again highlighted the ongoing friction between the government and the judiciary over appointments and transfers of judges in India.
| S. No. | Name of Recommendee | Category | Court |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vivek Sarna | Advocate | Allahabad High Court |
| 2 | Vivek Kumar Singh | Advocate | Allahabad High Court |
| 3 | Sunil Kumar Prasad | Advocate | Allahabad High Court |
| 4 | Subhash Chandra | Advocate | Allahabad High Court |
| 5 | Ashok Kumar Chaudhary | Advocate | Allahabad High Court |
| 6 | Shri Suryanarayan Chaudhari | Advocate | Allahabad High Court |
| 7 | Sudhakar Namdeo | Advocate | Allahabad High Court |
| 8 | Kamil Ravi Singh | Advocate | Allahabad High Court |
| 9 | Indrajeet Singh | Advocate | Allahabad High Court |
| 10 | Satya Veer Singh | Advocate | Allahabad High Court |
| 11 | Dr. Ajay Kumar-II | Judicial Officer | Allahabad High Court |
| 12 | Dhawan Prakash | Judicial Officer | Allahabad High Court |
| 13 | Dinesh Chandra Jaiswal | Judicial Officer | Allahabad High Court |
| 14 | Prashant Mishra-I | Judicial Officer | Allahabad High Court |
| 15 | Tarun Sachan | Judicial Officer | Allahabad High Court |
| 16 | Rajeev Bahri | Judicial Officer | Allahabad High Court |
| 17 | Pankaj Kumar Mishra | Judicial Officer | Allahabad High Court |
| 18 | Lakshmi Kant Shukla | Judicial Officer | Allahabad High Court |
| 19 | Jai Prakash Tiwari | Judicial Officer | Allahabad High Court |
| 20 | Devendra Singh-I | Judicial Officer | Allahabad High Court |
| 21 | Sanjay Kumar | Judicial Officer | Allahabad High Court |
| 22 | Smt. Kamini Agarwal | Judicial Officer | Allahabad High Court |
| 23 | Anil Sachan | Judicial Officer | Allahabad High Court |
| 24 | Smt. Babita Rani | Judicial Officer | Allahabad High Court |
| 25 | Jai Lal Bhardwaj | Advocate | Himachal Pradesh High Court |
| 26 | Kott Kourambala Venkata Ramana Murthy Arvind | Additional Judge → Permanent Judge | Karnataka High Court |
| 27 | Smt. Geetha Kabbas Bharathipraja | Judicial Officer → Additional Judge | Karnataka High Court |
| 28 | Bokkeli Muralidhar Puj | Judicial Officer → Additional Judge | Karnataka High Court |
| 29 | Shri Tyagaraju Narayan Iyavally | Judicial Officer → Additional Judge | Karnataka High Court |
Click Here to Read Previous Reports on Allahabad High Court
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