Khushi Doshi
Published On: February 01, 2022 at 13:06 IST
The Collegium of the Supreme Court has recommended Justice MN Bhandari to be appointed as Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.
Since November last year, Justice Bhandari has served as Acting Chief Justice in the Madras High Court, following the controversial transfer of Justice Sanjib Banerjee, a former presiding Judge.
He was appointed Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court, much smaller than the Madras High Court. The Meghalaya High Court has only four Judges, compared to the Madras High Court. The transfer was opposed and seen as a punitive measure by the Madras Bar Association.
A statement was published on the Supreme Court’s website on Monday stated,
“The Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on December 14, 2021/ January 29, 2022 has recommended elevation of Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari, Judge, Madras High Court (Parent HC: Rajasthan) as chief justice of Madras High Court.”
Additional recommendations were made by the collegium, consisting of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justices Uday U Lalit and AM Khanwilkar, over names of seven Lawyers as Judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.
In addition, three Judicial officers and an equal number of lawyers have been recommended to be appointed as Judges in the Madhya Pradesh High Court. If the latest collegium’s recommendation is accepted by the Union government, the Orissa Supreme Court will receive four more judges.
The Centre has the option of acknowledging the Collegium’s recommendations or send them for review. However, if the Collegium reaffirms the names, the Centre is required to appoint them as judges, despite the fact that such appointments must be made within a specific timeframe.
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