On Wednesday(24th July),The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended a fresh one-year term for nine additional judges of the Calcutta High Court, starting August 31, 2024, instead of making their appointments permanent. The judges include Justices Biswaroop Chowdhury, Partha Sarathi Sen, Prasenjit Biswas, Uday Kumar, Ajay Kumar Gupta, Supratim Bhattacharya, Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, Apurba Sinha Ray, and Md Shabbar Rashidi.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!
NEW DELHI: On Wednesday(24th July), the Supreme Court Collegium has recommended a fresh one-year term for nine additional judges of the Calcutta High Court. This decision comes despite earlier recommendations for their permanent appointments.
The judges in question are Justices Biswaroop Chowdhury, Partha Sarathi Sen, Prasenjit Biswas, Uday Kumar, Ajay Kumar Gupta, Supratim Bhattacharya, Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, Apurba Sinha Ray, and Md Shabbar Rashidi.
The recommendation specifies that their new term should commence from August 31, 2024.
Previously, the High Court Collegium had unanimously suggested on April 29 that these nine judges should be made permanent, and the Central government had concurred with this recommendation. However, the final decision by the Supreme Court Collegium took a different turn.
ALSO READ: SC Collegium Recommends Permanent Status for Five Karnataka HC Judges
One key aspect of this decision is the absence of feedback from the Chief Minister and the Governor of West Bengal on the High Court Collegium’s recommendation. The Department of Justice, under the Central government, forwarded the recommendation by invoking Para 14 of the Memorandum of Procedure. This provision states that if comments from the Constitutional authorities in the State are not received within a specific time frame, it should be assumed that they have no additional input, and the proposal should proceed accordingly.
To reach its decision, the Supreme Court Collegium consulted judges from the apex court who are familiar with the operations of the Calcutta High Court. Additionally, the judgments of the nine judges were meticulously assessed for their merit and suitability.
After considering all these factors, the Collegium concluded that a one-year extension, rather than permanent appointments, was the appropriate course of action for Justices Biswaroop Chowdhury, Partha Sarathi Sen, Prasenjit Biswas, Uday Kumar, Ajay Kumar Gupta, Supratim Bhattacharya, Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, Apurba Sinha Ray, and Md Shabbar Rashidi.
