In an unprecedented move, the SC Collegium has returned the names of 6 Delhi District Judges who were recommended for elevation by Delhi HC.

However, the SC Collegium, at its meeting on Aug 17, cleared the names of 6 Lawyers practising in Delhi for elevation as per the collegium resolution made public on Tuesday. These lawyers had been recommended by the HC Collegium in 2019, along with 6 judicial officers in the capital. 

While the lawyers faced no difficulty in their preliminary screening by the Centre and were approved by the SC collegium, it was the elevation from the district judiciary that had run into rough weather, & the names were sent back to the HC for “reconsideration.”

It was a rare development because, as per the practice, the Govt & the Supreme Court usually clear names from the bench swiftly, while subjecting those from the bar to intense scrutiny. 

The news agency also learnt that the Govt had objected to the HC proposal on the Judicial officers, citing not just bypassing of seniority norms, but also adverse IB reports, that led it to send negative input to the SC Collegium.

Taking into account the Govt’s stand, IB reports along with representation by one of the senior-most District Judges, who was overlooked by the HC, the SC’s 5-Judge Collegium — comprising justices N V Ramana, Arun Mishra, R F Nariman & U U Lalit headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde — had returned the 6 names for a fresh look.

In 2019, the HC had proposed 6 names— Poonam A Bamba, Yashwant Kumar, Neena Bansal Krishna, Dharmesh Sharma, Dinesh Kumar Sharma & A K Mendiratta — all of whom presided as District Judges.

The point of contention arose on their inter-se seniority, with the recommended judges being number 3rd, 9th, 12th,13th, 14th & 15th in seniority, respectively. A source in the HC said some of the senior-most Judges left out were Girish Kathpalia, Sujata Kohli, A S Jayachandra, Narottam Kaushal.

The source said that “Representations were sent to the Centre & the Supreme Court judges by a senior judicial officer, who was overlooked, where he raised the issue of ignoring seniority & their annual confidential reports by the high court collegium".

The Lawyers whose names were recommended by the Supreme Court were Jasmeet Singh, Amit Bansal, Tara Vitasta Ganju, Anish Dayal, Amit Sharma & Mini Pushkarna. 

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