SC Collegium Recommends 18 Names for Elevation as HC Judges, 3 Using ‘Silence as Approval’ Clause

A clause in the Memorandum of Procedure allows the Union law minister to proceed if comments of the state constitutional authorities are not received within six weeks.

The Wire Staff

A clause in the Memorandum of Procedure allows the Union law minister to proceed if comments of the state constitutional authorities are not received within six weeks.

sc collegium recommends 18 names for elevation as hc judges 3 using ‘silence as approval’ clause

The Central Wing of the Supreme Court of India, where the Chief Justice's courtroom is situated. Photo: Subhashish Panigrahi/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

New Delhi: The Supreme Court collegium has recommended 18 names to the Union government for appointment as judges of various high courts, three of which were made by invoking a rarely used “silence is approval” clause.

Under para 14 of the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for this process, if the comments of the state constitutional authorities are not received within six weeks from the date of receipt of the proposal from the high court chief justice, it should be presumed by the Union minister of law and justice that the governor and chief minister have nothing to add to the proposal and proceed accordingly.

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud-led collegium, comprising Justices Sanjay Kaul and Sanjiv Khanna, recommended the elevation of 13 judicial officers and five advocates.

The collegium invoked MoP to recommend appointments of judicial officers Biswajit Palit and Sabyasachi D Purkayastha as judges of the Tripura high court and Vimal Kanaiyalal Vyas as judge of Gujarat high court, the Times of India (TOI) reported.

The collegium also recommended appointment of retired district judge Shalinder Kaur and district judge Ravinder Dudeja, at present registrar general of Delhi high court, as judges of the Delhi high court.

The five judicial officers recommended for appointment as judges of Kerala high court are M.B. Snehalata, Johnson John, G. Girish, C. Pratheepkumar and P. Krishna Kumar, the TOI report said.

For the Bombay high court, the collegium recommended appointment of three judicial officers Abhay J. Mantri, Shyam C. Chandak and Neeraj P. Dhote. Advocate Ravindra Kumar Agrawal's name has been recommended for appointment as judge of the Chhattisgarh high court.

The SC collegium also recommended Justice M.V. Muralidharan’s transfer to Calcutta high court, rejecting his request for either continuance at Manipur high court or transfer to his parent high court, since he is due for retirement in April 2024, the report said. Justice Muralidharan is the acting chief justice of the Manipur high court, a role he has been performing since Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar was elevated to the Supreme Court in February 2023.

An order passed by Justice Muralidharan in March this year, directing the Manipur government to “consider the case of the petitioners for inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list, expeditiously,” is one of the triggers for the ethnic violence that has been unfolding in the state since May.

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