SC collegium tweaks recommendation for chief justice of HC amid deadlock

The collegium currently comprises Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, and justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph.

With the Union government sitting on the transfer and appointment of high court chief justices for almost four months, the Supreme Court collegium on Wednesday recalled one of its recommendations in an endeavour to break the deadlock.

By a resolution dated September 28, the collegium had proposed the transfer of Orissa HC chief justice S Muralidhar as the chief justice of the Madras HC. (ANI)

Following a meeting on Wednesday morning, the collegium recalled its recommendation to elevate Orissa high court judge Jaswant Singh as the chief justice of the same high court, and instead proposed his appointment as the chief justice of Tripura high court. Justice Singh is scheduled to retire on February 22.

The collegium currently comprises Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, and justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph. By a resolution dated September 28, the collegium had proposed the transfer of Orissa HC chief justice S Muralidhar as the chief justice of the Madras HC. Upon justice Muralidhar’s transfer, justice Singh was to be elevated as the chief justice of the Orissa high court.

The government is yet to act on these recommendations of the collegium. At present, both Madras and Tripura high courts do not have full time chief justices.