A couple of days after reports said that the Centre has sought a “re-think” two names sent by the Supreme Court Collegium for elevation, the apex court body has put forth another batch of two judges for elevation to the top court. The judges recommended for promotion are Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant.
ustice Gavai is presently a judge of the Bombay High Court and Justice Kant is the incumbent Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.
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As per the Collegium recommendation uploaded on the top court’s website, the five-member Collegium headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi met on Wednesday and recommended these two names for their elevation as Supreme Court judges.
Against the sanctioned strength of 31 judges, the apex court is presently functioning with 27 judges.
On April 12, the Supreme Court collegium had recommended the names of Jharkhand High Court Chief Justice Aniruddha Bose, and Gauhati HC Chief Justice A S Bopanna for elevation to the top court.
Their names were returned for further contemplation by the Union Law Ministry, reports said on Tuesday. Seniority and representation of regions have been cited as reasons behind the government’s decision, the sources claimed.
While Justice Bose whose parent high court is Calcutta, is at number 12 in all-India seniority of judges, Justice Bopanna, whose parent high court is Karnataka, stands at number 36.
Last year, the government had returned Justice Bose’s name to the collegium when he was recommended to head the Delhi high court.