Supreme Court Directs HP High Court Collegium To Reconsider Elevation Of 2 District Judges, Says HC CJ Wrong In Taking Individual Decision

The Supreme Court allowed a writ petition filed by two senior district judges from Himachal Pradesh contending that the Himachal Pradesh High Court collegium ignored their merit and seniority while recommending names for elevation to the High Court.

The Court on Friday (September 6) directed the collegium of Himachal Pradesh High Court to reconsider the names of District Judges Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra for elevation as judges of the High Court. This should be done following the Supreme Court collegium's resolution dated 04.01.2024 and the Law Minister's letter dated 16.01.2024 seeking the reconsideration of their names by the High Court.

The Supreme Court observed that the procedure adopted by the High Court collegium in the matter of reconsideration of the two petitioners was inconsistent with the law laid down by in the Second Judges and Third Judges cases.

A bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Misra pronounced the verdict.

"There was no collective consultation and deliberation by the members of the High Court collegium.. the decision of the Chief Justice of the High Court on the suitability of the two petitioners appears to be an individual decision. The same stands vitiated both procedurally and substantially," Justice Roy read out the operative portion.

The petitioners, District Judges Chirag Bhanu Singh from Bilaspur and Arvind Malhotra from Solan, sought direction for reconsideration of their names for elevation in line with the Supreme Court Collegium's resolution of January 4, 2024 which has directed the HC collegium to consider their names.

In December 2022, the petitioners' names were recommended for elevation to the HC. However, the Supreme Court Collegium on July 12, 2023, decided to defer consideration of their elevation, stating that it would take up the matter at a later stage.

On January 4, 2024, the Supreme Court Collegium remitted the proposal for the petitioners' elevation back to the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh HC for fresh recommendations. A letter from the Union Minister of Law and Justice on January 16, 2024, urged the HC Collegium to reconsider the petitioners' names.

On May 13, 2024, the Court issued notice to the Registrar General of the Himachal Pradesh HC, seeking a report detailing whether the HC Collegium had reconsidered the names of the petitioners in accordance with the Supreme Court's resolution.

The Registrar General submitted a report on July 15. After hearing submissions from all parties on August 6, the bench reserved its judgment.

Senior Advocate Arvind Datar for the petitioners submitted that their judgments were not called for while evaluating suitability and eligibility of judicial officers for elevation.

The petitioners sought directions to the Himachal Pradesh HC to consider their names for elevation as per the Supreme Court Collegium's resolution dated January 4, 2024. They also sought a stay on the process of considering other names for elevation by the HC Collegium until their grievance was resolved by the apex court.

The petitioners are aggrieved by the High Court Collegium's non-consideration of their names for elevation and alternatively considering the names of the judicial officers junior to the said petitioners.

Recently, the Court refused to entertain another petition by two district judges from Kerala against the Kerala High Court collegium not considering their names for elevation as judges of the High Court.

Case no. – WP(C) No. 312/2024

Case Title – Chirag Bhanu Singh v. State of Himachal Pradesh