NEW DELHI, Sept 17: The Supreme Court Collegium on Tuesday issued a resolution recommending the appointment of Justices Indra Prasanna Mukerji, Suresh Kumar Kait, GS Sandhawalia, and Tashi Rabstan as Chief Justices of the Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Courts.
The recommendations in the resolution passed by the Collegium today supersedes the recommendations it made in its July 11 resolution.
The new resolution notes that the Collegium’s earlier recommendations have been have been pending with the Government for over two months.
In its resolution dated July 11, the Collegium had made the following recommendations for the appointment of Chief Justices of various High Courts:
- Justice Manmohan, the current Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, be appointed as Chief Justice of the same High Court;
- Justice Rajiv Shakdher, the second seniormost puisine judge of the Delhi High Court, be appointed as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court;
- Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, senior puisne Judge of the High Court of Delhi, be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh;
- Justice GS Sandhawalia, seniormost puisne Judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, be appointed as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court;
- Justice Nitin Madhukar Jamdar, seniormost puisne Judge of the High Court of Bombay, be appointed as Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court;
- Justice Tashi Rabstan, seniormost puisne Judge of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, be appointed as 2 Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court; and
- Justice KR Shriram, second seniormost puisne Judge of the High Court of Bombay, be appointed as Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.
However, the resolution dated September 17 makes new recommendations for the appointment of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, Justice GS Sandhawalia, and Justice Tashi Rabstan as Chief Justices of various High Courts.
Justice Suresh Kumar Kait
Instead of being appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Collegium has now recommended that he be appointed as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The Collegium resolution notes that Justice Kait is senior to the senior-most judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva.
Justice Kait was appointed in September 2008. He belongs to the Scheduled Caste category and ranks fifth in the All India Seniority list of High Court Judges, including Chief Justices. He is due to retire on May 23, 2025.
Justice GS Sandhawalia
Instead of being appointed as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, the Collegium has recommended that he be appointed as the Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court after Justice Rajiv Shakdher, whose name was recommended to the post in the July 11 resolution, retires on October 18, 2024.
Justice Tashi Rabstan
Instead of being appointed as Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court, the Collegium has recommended that he be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh where he is currently the seniormost puisine judge.
He was appointed as a Judge in March 2013 and is due to retire on April 9, 2025.
Justice Rabstan belongs to Ladakh and would be the first Chief Justice from the region of Ladakh which has otherwise little or no representation among the judges of the High Courts and no representation at all so far in the office of Chief Justice.
The Collegium resolution also notes that the judge is a Buddhist and belongs to the Bot Scheduled Tribe and that his appointment will bring diversity in the office of Chief Justices of the High Courts.
Apart from altering the recommendations with respect to these three judges, the Collegium has also recommended that instead of Justice Rabstan as stated in the July 11 resolution, Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji be appointed as the Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court.
Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji
Justice Mukerji was appointed as a Judge of the Calcutta High Court in May 2009 and is due to retire on September 5, 2025. He is the seniormost puisne Judge of the Calcutta High Court and ranks seventh in the All India Seniority list of High Court Judges, including Chief Justices.
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