The letter of recommendation of the Supreme Court Collegium could not reach Shimla from Delhi in 6 months! The High Court is saying this, understand

New Delhi: The Himachal Pradesh High Court in Shimla is just 340 km away from the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court’s sensitive message did not reach the High Court for six months. During this time, the Chief Justice of the High Court, without consulting the Collegium (committee for appointment of judges), wrote to the Supreme Court about the non-eligibility of two senior judicial officers who had earlier been recommended for appointment as High Court judges.Understand what is the matter
This information was given by the High Court Registrar General J.K. Sharma in a report presented before a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S.V.N. Bhatti on Monday. The bench is hearing a petition filed by two judicial officers – Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra. Both of them have alleged that the High Court Collegium bypassed the Supreme Court Collegium’s January 4 direction. The Supreme Court’s direction had asked to reconsider the previous proposal to appoint them as High Court judges. Instead, the High Collegium recommended junior judicial officers for promotion.

What was in the letter written to the Chief Justice?
In the report, the High Court said that its Chief Justice (CJ) had written a letter directly to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on December 11 last year. In this letter, he/she had asked whether the Supreme Court needed any further information about the qualifications of Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra? But, on January 16, the Law Minister wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of the High Court and informed that the Supreme Court Collegium in its decision of January 4 had sent the names of Singh and Malhotra back to the High Court so that they could be reconsidered. The shocking thing is that even after six months, the High Court said that it did not receive the decision of the Supreme Court Collegium of January 4. After this, what is even more shocking is that the High Court says that in the letter of the Law Minister, which mentioned the decision of the Supreme Court Collegium, it seemed that this decision was only for the Chief Justice of the High Court so that he/she alone could reconsider the proposal to make these two judges.

This has completely upset the collegium system for appointment of judges. This system was created on the basis of two decisions of the Supreme Court in the 1990s. These decisions stated that the collegium of the High Court consists of the Chief Justice and the two most senior judges, and for the Supreme Court, the collegium consists of the Chief Justice along with the four most senior judges who select the appointment of Supreme Court judges. The High Court was still doubtful whether the Supreme Court Collegium had sent back the names of Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra for reconsideration or not, so the High Court said that on February 27, the CJI wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of the High Court reminding him/her to fill the posts of judges in the High Court.