Retired district judge among 12 picked by SC collegium for post of HC judge | India News

NEW DELHI: In a rare instance, the Supreme Court collegium has recommended the appointment of a retired district judge as a judge of the Madhya Pradesh HC, citing legitimate expectation and delay in the selection process, a move that would allow him to serve two years as a constitutional court judge.
Among the eight district judges and four advocates recommended by the collegium for appointment as judges of three high courts, the case of Roopesh Chandra Varshney is unique. He had joined judicial service nearly 36 years ago on September 28, 1987 and had retired from service.
The collegium of CJI DY Chandrachud, and Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph provided an elaborate explanation for recommending Varshney: “On the date of the vacancy against which his name was recommended, Varshney’s age was 58. 03 years and thus qualifies with reference to prescribed age criterion.”
Having regard to the above and the legitimate expectation based on the long period of service rendered by him, the Collegium is of the considered opinion that Varshney is suitable for appointment as a judge of the HC of Madhya Pradesh,” the SC collegium said.

In the past, only two persons — Justices Fathima Beevi and Bahrul Islam — were appointed as Supreme Court judges months after their retirement as HC judges.

Seven district judges were recommended for the Madhya Pradesh HC. Except for present Supreme Court secretary general Sanjeev S Kalgaonkar, a MP higher judicial officer of 1994 batch recommended for appointment as a judge of the HC, all other judicial officers — Anuradha Shukla, Prem Narayan Singh, Achal Kumar Paliwal, Hirdesh, and Avnindra Kumar Singh — had joined judicial service in 1990 and would have a tenure of nearly four years on appointment as MP HC judges.The collegium cited their “legitimate expectation” and impeccable career graph as reasons for recommending their appointment as HC judges.
However, in the case of Uttarakahand, the collegium recommended a young judicial officer with 17 years experience — Vivek Bharti Sharma, senior-most among members of state higher judicial service and presently posted as registrar general of the HC —for appointment as a judge of the Uttarakhand HC. It also recommended the names of three advocates — Rakesh Thapliyal, Pankaj Purohit, and Subhash Upadhyay — to the Centre for their appointment as judges to the HC.
In recommending appointment of judicial officer Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal as judge of Chhattisgarh HC, the collegium had to skip the part of selection process — taking opinion of consultee SC judges — as no one from Chhattisgarh has been found fit to be appointed as SC judge since the creation of the state in 2000.