Government returns names of 2 judges for elevation to HCs, cites no reasons

The government has asked the Supreme Court collegium to reconsider its recommendation to appoint two lawyers as high court judges but did not cite any reason for its move, a senior government functionary said.

The SC collegium had in 2016 recommended names of Harnaresh Singh Gill and Mohammed Nizamuddin for appointment as judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Calcutta High Court respectively.

While returning the names to the collegium, the government did not cite any reason, the functionary said.

Recently too, the top court collegium's recommendation for the appointments of two lawyers, one of them a former top court judge's son, as judges of the Allahabad High Court was returned for the second time by the government citing complaints against them.

The two lawyers are Mohammad Mansoor and Basharat Ali Khan. Mansoor is the son of former Supreme Court judge late Saghir Ahmed.

The government had also returned the name of advocate Nazir Ahmed Beig for elevation as a Jammu and Kashmir High Court judge.

The names of three others - Wasim Sadiq Nargal, Sindhu Sharma and district judge Rashid Ali Dar - are being processed by the Law Ministry. There was no immediate word on why Beig's name was returned to the collegium.

Citing seniority and regional imbalance, the government had in April returned the file relating to the elevation of Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K M Joseph.

The collegium has recently reiterated its recommendation.