On Wednesday, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended a fresh one-year term for nine additional judges of the Calcutta High Court.
The recommendation stated that Justices Biswaroop Chowdhury, Partha Sarathi Sen, Prasenjit Biswas, Uday Kumar, Ajay Kumar Gupta, Supratim Bhattacharya, Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, Apurba Sinha Ray, and Md Shabbar Rashidi be appointed for a new term of one year starting from August 31, 2024.
This decision was made despite the High Court Collegium unanimously recommending on April 29 that these nine judges be made permanent and despite the Central government agreeing with this recommendation.
The Chief Minister and the Governor of West Bengal did not convey their views on the High Court Collegium’s recommendation.
The Department of Justice of the Central government forwarded the recommendation by invoking Para 14 of the Memorandum of Procedure, which states that if the comments of the Constitutional authorities in the State are not received within the prescribed timeframe, it should be presumed by the Minister of Law and Justice that the Governor and the Chief Minister have nothing to add to the proposal and proceed accordingly.
The Supreme Court Collegium then consulted judges of the apex court familiar with the affairs of the Calcutta High Court and assessed the judgments of the nine judges for merit and suitability.
After considering all these factors, the Collegium decided to grant a fresh one-year term to the nine judges instead of making them permanent.
