Centre red flags 11 lawyers for appointment as HC judges; most from Punjab, Delhi

The Centre has recently red-flagged a host of recommendations for the appointment of judges to high courts with the top court collegium deciding not to press some of them and remitting others to the Delhi, Punjab and Haryana and J&K high courts, according to the Supreme Court collegium.

In two cases relating to appointment of judges to Delhi High Court from among the lawyers, the top court collegium has deferred the decision by two to three weeks.

The top of the list is Punjab & Haryana High Court, followed by Delhi High Court and the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir.

The collegium on January 16 remitted back to the Punjab and Haryana High Court the names of seven lawyers out of 11 that the High Court had recommended on November 24, 2017 for appointment as high court judges.

The recommendation for the appointment of 7 lawyers as High Court judges was considered by the top court Collegium on September 4, 2018 when it was decided to defer it for more inputs.

On January 16, the top court collegium after assessing their "merit and suitability" decided to remit their names back to the High Court.

Similarly, for the appointment of advocates as judges of Delhi High Court, the High Court collegium had on October 13, 2017 recommended four names out of which the top court collegium deferred a decision on two and remitted two to the High Court.

In August 2017, the J&K High Court collegium had recommended three lawyers for appointment as judges of High Court.

In the case of one, the top court collegium decided to recall its April 6, 2017 recommendation for his elevation as HC judge.

However, in case of other it asked the Centre (Department of Justice) to "furnish specific information in detail on the basis of which the proposal for elevation has been referred back for reconsideration by the collegium."