SC recommends 68 names for appointment of 12 HC judges, including 10 women

The 12 High Courts for which the names were recommended are, Allahabad, Rajasthan, Calcutta, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Madras, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, and Assam.

In the meetings held recently, on August 25 and September 1, the Supreme Court’s Collegium considered the names of 112 candidates – 82 from the Bar and 31 from the Judicial Service. Among those 68 cleared for 12 High Courts, 44 are from the Bar and 24 are from the Judicial Service.

The SC Collegium has recommended the name of 10 women for elevation as judges, including a female judicial officer Marli Vankung for elevation to the Gauhati High Court. She might become the first-ever High Court Judge from Mizoram.

These recommendations come close on the heels of the Collegium recommending three women judges for elevation to the Supreme Court– Justice B V Nagarathna of the Karnataka High Court; Justice Hima Kohli, Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court; and Justice Bela Trivedi of the Gujarat High Court.

Overall, the apex court recommended nine probable names to the Supreme Court as judges.

The Supreme Court Collegium consists of five senior-most judges.

According to the Department of Justice, there are a total of 4 female Supreme Court judges in the country as of September 1.

And in the High Courts–Allahabad HC (4); Andhra Pradesh HC (3) Bombay HC (6); Calcutta HC (4); Chhattisgarh HC (2); Delhi HC (5); Gauhati HC (1); Gujarat HC (4); Himachal Pradesh HC (1); Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh HC (1); Jharkhand HC (1); Karnataka HC (2); Kerala HC (3); Madhya Pradesh HC (3); Madras HC (9); Punjab & Haryana HC (4); Rajasthan HC (1); Sikkim HC (1) and Telangana HC (1).

The aforementioned list does not include ‘Additional judges’ and “Judges transferred’.

Currently, Uttarakhand High Court, Tripura High Court, Patna High Court, Orissa High Court, Meghalaya High Court, and Manipur High Court have no women judges.