January 12, 2019:

Supreme Court Collegium has recommended names of Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, current Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court, and Justice Sanjiv Khanna of Delhi High Court for elevation as judges of the Apex Court.

Five-member Collegium headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi took the decision in its meeting on January 10 to recommend names of Justice Maheshwari and Justice Khanna for their elevation to Supreme Court.

Decision of Collegium, also comprising Justice A K Sikri, Justice S A Bobde, Justice N V Ramana and Justice Arun Mishra, was made public on Supreme Court's website on Friday.

Supreme Court, which has a sanctioned strength of 31 judges, is presently functioning with 26 judges.

After extensive deliberations on January 5 and 6 this year, newly constituted Collegium deemed it appropriate to have a fresh look on the issue of elevation of judges in the light of the additional material that became available.

The Recommendation states that,"While recommending the names of justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna the Collegium has taken into consideration combined seniority on all-India basis of chief justices and senior puisne judges of high courts, apart from their merit and integrity".

It further states that, Collegium has also kept in mind desirability of giving due representations on Bench of the Supreme Court, as far as possible, to all High Courts.

Justice Maheshwari was appointed a judge of the Rajasthan High Court on September 2, 2004 and was transferred to Allahabad High Court on July 19, 2014.

He was elevated as Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court on February 24, 2016 and was thereafter transferred to Karnataka High Court on February 12, 2018. He has been functioning there since then.

Justice Khanna was appointed a judge of Delhi High Court on June 24, 2005 and since has been functioning there. If elevated, Justice Khanna will become Chief Justice of India after Justice D Y Chandrachud in the year 2024.

Read Collegium Resolution @LatestLaws.com:

SC Collegium Resolution Dated 10.01.2019 (Download PDF)

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