On Tuesday, the Supreme Court declined to intervene in the ongoing process for promotion of Civil Judges to the cadre of District Judges in Maharashtra, making it clear that the challenge must first be pursued before the Bombay High Court. The Court allowed the promotion process to continue and directed the petitioner to seek relief before the Bombay High Court.
The petitioner alleged that the selection process departed from principles laid down by the Apex Court in R.D. Mehta and sought urgent intervention. It was submitted that approaching the High Court would be difficult because the process had been overseen during the tenure of Justice Shree Chandrashekhar as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, while the present Acting Chief Justice supervised the selection exercise. Senior Advocate Mennakshi Arora also pointed out that the matter had been mentioned before the Chief Justice of India, who had asked the petitioner to move the High Court.
The division Bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was not persuaded that these circumstances justified bypassing the High Court. Asking, “If you want to challenge the promotions, why don’t you go to the High Court first?”, the Bench expressed confidence that the High Court would appropriately deal with the grievance. It further stated, “We don’t advise anybody on the administrative side. We are not interfering with the promotion process.”
The Court accordingly declined to entertain the oral request.
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