President likely to issue warrants of appointment next week
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 1: Union Law Ministry has approved the names of two Judicial Officers for appointment as Judges of the Common High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh Union Territories and warrants of appointment are likely to be issued by the President of India next week.
Reliable sources told EXCELSIOR that Union Ministry of Law and Justice has cleared the names of Mohan Lal Manhas, Principal District and Sessions Judge Jammu and Mohammad Akram Chowdhary, Principal District and Sessions Judge Srinagar for appointment as Judges of Common High Court of J&K and Ladakh.
“Now, the files will be submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and thereafter the same will be placed before the President of India for issuance of warrants of appointment, which are likely to be issued next week”, they informed.
With the appointment of two more Judges, the strength of J&K and Ladakh High Court will increase to 13 as at present there are 11 Judges including the Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal. The Judges of the High Court, at present, are Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey, Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, Justice Tashi Rabstan, Justice Sanjeev Kumar, Justice Sindhu Sharma, Justice Rajnesh Oswal, Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul, Justice Sanjay Dhar, Justice Puneet Gupta and Justice Javed Iqbal Wani.
It is pertinent to mention here that J&K and Ladakh High Court has a sanctioned strength of 17 Judges including 13 Permanent Judges and 4 Additional Judges. With the appointment of two more Judges, there will be only four vacancies.
The names of these two Judicial Officers were recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana in the month of September this year while as in the month of December last year J&K High Court Collegium headed by the then Chief Justice Gita Mittal had recommended the names of Mohan Lal Manhas and Mohammad Akram Chowdhary.
However, the Union Law Ministry has yet not taken any decision on the names of three Advocates namely Wasim Sadiq Nargal, Moksha Khajuria Kazmi and Rahul Bharti, which were also recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium. This is considered as departure from the Memorandum of Procedure that governs the process of appointment of Judges to the higher judiciary.
In the month of March this year, the Supreme Court Collegium had reiterated for the second time its recommendation to appoint Advocate Nargal as Judge of the Common High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Nargal’s is currently the oldest recommendation pending with the Union Law Ministry.
Nargal’s name was first proposed by High Court Collegium on August 24, 2017 and his candidature was approved by the Supreme Court Collegium on April 6, 2018. Subsequently, in January 2019 and again in March this year the Apex Court Collegium reiterated its decision.
In September this year, the Supreme Court had also reiterated two other names Advocates Moksha Khajuria Kazmi and Rahul Bharti for appointment as Judges of the J&K and Ladakh High Court, which still remain pending with the Government.
While Kazmi’s name was first recommended in October 2019, Bharti’s was recommended in March this year. Their names were among 12 reiterated by the Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana.
According to the Memorandum of Procedure, the document that governs the process of appointment of judges, the proposal for appointment of a Judge of a High Court is initiated by the Chief Justice of a High Court, and the copy of the Chief Justice’s proposal is sent to the Governor, and also endorsed to the Chief Justice of India and Union Minister of Law and Justice.
The complete material, including the Governor’s recommendation and intelligence reports, are then placed before Supreme Court Collegium which makes recommendations to the Union Law Ministry. If the Government returns the file, the Collegium can either reiterate or recall its decision but if the decision is reiterated, it is binding on the Government.
Follow our WhatsApp channel