February 15, 2019;

The Feb 12 resolution of Supreme Court collegium recommending elevation of Judges to Allahabad High Court contains a significant observation regarding income criteria.

The Collegium noted that some of the advocates recommended by the High Court Collegium were not meeting the criteria of minimum annual net professional income of ₹ 7 lakhs.

Therefore, the Collegium of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice A K Sikri and Justice S A Bobde observed, "The Collegium considers it appropriate to relax the income criterion to a reasonable extent in cases where such recommends belong to categories of SC/ST/OBC or represent Government in their capacity as Standing /Panel Counsel before the Courts."

Several names have been dropped by the Collegium for not meeting the professional income criteria.

In Dec 2017, the Collegium rejected a recommendation from Calcutta High Court on the sole ground of not meeting the income limit.

Last year, one recommendation from Kerala High Court was also rejected on this sole ground.

This practice of rejecting a candidate solely on the ground of income limit, despite satisfying other suitability criteria, has attracted criticism from many sections of the Bar.

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