India

Deadlock between collegium and govt ends: Justice KM Joseph, Vineet Saran and Indira Banerjee appointed as SC judges

The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind appointed Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee, Orissa HC CJ Vineet Saran and Uttarakhand HC CJ K M Joseph as judges of the Supreme Court on Friday. Under the provisions of Article 124 of the Constitution, the President warranted the three appointments of the high court judges.

The order of the elevation is supposedly due to the all-India seniority of HC judges, sources stated, meaning that Justice Banerjee and Justice Saran will be senior to Justice Joseph in the top court.

The appointment of Justice Banerjee leads to the court having three serving woman judges, including Justices R Bhanumathi and Indu Malhotra which is the most that the top court’s had uptil now. The first woman judge was appointed in 1989.

Currently, Justice Joseph is the longest-serving Chief Justice of a High Court and has served as Uttarakhand’s CJ. He will have a longer tenure as compared to  Justices Banerjee and Saran.

Earlier in January, the Supreme Court collegium headed by CJI Deepak Mishra had recommended Justice Joseph’s elevation with advocate Indu Malhotra. However, at first initally agreeing to the recommendation, the government returned it on April 26. In July, the collegium reiterated the recommendation.

Meanwhile, the government on Friday also notified the appointments of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal as Chief Justice of Jammu & Kashmir High Court; acting Chief Justice of Kerala High Court Hrishikesh Roy as Chief Justice of the same High Court; Rajasthan High Court judge Justice K S Jhaveri as Chief Justice of Orissa High Court and Gujarat High Court judge Justice M R Shah as Chief Justice of Patna High Court ; Chief Justice of Patna High Court Justice Rajendra Menon as Chief Justice of Delhi High Court while Calcutta High Court judge and Justice Aniruddha Bose as Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court.

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