NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that a High Court Chief Justice could not unilaterally reject a judicial officer’s candidature for appointment as an HC Judge. The court asked the CJ-led Himachal collegium to consider the names of two district judges — Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra — for selection as HC judges.A two-judge led by Justice Hrishikesh Roy and comprising Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra set aside a Himachal HC CJ’s decision not to consider these two judicial officers for HC judgeship.The names were referred to Himachal HC by the SC collegium for reconsideration.In the last week of August, the top court had reserved the verdict on a plea filed by these two senior district and sessions judges of Himachal Pradesh, alleging that their merit and seniority were not considered for judgeship in the state High Court by its collegium.Earlier, the HP HC had submitted its response in a “sealed cover” to the top court to the plea filed by two district and sessions judges of HP — Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra — alleging that their seniority, merit and other factors were not considered for judgeship in the state HC by their collegium. The top court acknowledged the sealed cover report of the HP HC filed on behalf of the Registrar General and recorded the submissions before reserving the verdict.The plea, filed by judges Singh and Malhotra, said that the HP HC’s collegium had ignored their merit and seniority and overlooked CJI DY Chandrachud-led Supreme Court collegium’s recommendation of their names for elevation to the HC from the service quota.
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