Indira Banerjee shortlisted for elevation to Supreme Court

The SC Collegium is likely to meet this week. Speculations are rife that besides the MHC Chief Justice the other names poised for elevation include Orissa HC Chief Justice Vineet Saran, Madhya Pradesh HC Chief Justice Hemant Gupta, Rajasthan HC Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog, Gujarat HC Chief Justice R Subash Reddy and Hyderabad HC Judge Justice Ramesh Ranganathan.

It may be noted that the Supreme Court is currently functioning with 22 judges as against the sanctioned strength of 31 judges.

Meanwhile, reports are also out that the Central Government is expected to forward nearly 120 names shortlisted for appointment as high court judges to the Supreme Court Collegium soon. It is said that appointment to the high courts had come to a standstill as the intelligence bureau was slow in completing the background checks on the proposed names.

It may be noted that Madras Bar Association had filed a writ petition last month calling for implementation of strict timelines to be implemented at every stage of the process of judicial appointments. It had argued that the arbitrary and inordinate delay by the executive in appointment of judges to the high judiciary is violative of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution. To this, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had assured that some progress has been made to address the problem.