Appointment

Appointments & TransfersNews

Appointment of Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court

President appoints Shri Sanjay Yadav, Judge of the Allahabad High Court, to be the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office.

Background

Shri Justice Sanjay Yadav, M.A., LL.B, was enrolled as an Advocate on 25-08-1986. He practiced at Jabalpur for 20 years in Civil, Constitutional, Labour and Service matters and has specialized in Labour and Service matters. He worked as Government Advocate from March 1999 to October 2005. He was Deputy Advocate General with effect from October 2005. He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on March 2, 2007, and as a Permanent Judge on January 15, 2010. Later, he was transferred to Allahabad High Court. He was appointed as Acting Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court w.e.f. 14-4-2021.

Ministry of Law and Justice

[Notification dt. 10-06-2021]

Appointments & TransfersNews

Appointment of Election Commissioner

President of India, appoints Shri Anup Chandra Pandey, IAS (Retd.) (UP: 1984) as the Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India, with effect from the dated he assumes the office.

Ministry of Law and Justice

[Notification dt.9-06-2021]

Appointments & TransfersNews

Appointment of CBI Director

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the appointment of Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, IPS (MH: 1985) as Director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a period of 2 years from the date of assumption of charge of the office or until further orders whichever is earlier.

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet

[Notification dt. 25-05-2021]

 

Appointments & TransfersNews

Appointment of Permanent Judge

President appoints Justice Alok Kumar Verma, Additional Judge of Uttaranchal High Court to be Judge of Uttaranchal High Court from the date he assumes charge of his office.

About

Justice Alok Kumar Verma — Born on 16-08-1964 in District Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Graduated from D.A.V. (P.G.) Degree College, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. He Did his LL.B. from Harish Chandra Postgraduate College in the year 1985 and joined Judicial Service of 1982 batch in Uttar Pradesh in the year 1987 and posted at Jhansi as Munsif [Civil Judge (Junior Division)].

He remained posted in various Districts in State of Uttar Pradesh. Opted for Judicial Service in the State of Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand) after creation of State on 09-11-2000.

Remained posted as District Judge at Tehri Garhwal, Chamoli, Udham Singh Nagar and Dehradun. Also posted as Principal Secretary, Law-cum-L.R. to the Government of Uttarakhand.

Appointed as Additional Judge of High Court of Uttarakhand in pursuance of Notification No. K.13032/01/2019-US-I dated 22nd May, 2019 issued by the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law & Justice, Government of India and took oath of his office on 27th May, 2019 in the Forenoon.

Ministry of Law and Justice

[Notification dt. 24-05-2021]

Appointments & TransfersNews

Appointment of Additional Judge

Vikas Bahl to be an Additional Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, for a period of 2 years with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office.

[Notification dt. 24-05-2021]

Appointments & TransfersNews

The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the appointment of Justice Sanjay Yadav as the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court on 20th May, 2021. Justice Sanjay Yadav had been serving as the Acting Chief Justice after former Chief Justice Govind Mathur demitted office on April 14th, 2021.

Born on June 26, 1959, Justice Yadav enrolled as an Advocate on August 25, 1986. Thereafter, he practised on Civil, Revenue and Constitutional sides in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur. Subsequently, he was appointed Deputy Advocate General of Madhya Pradesh. 

On March 2, 2007 he was elevated as Judge of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh and Permanent Judge on January 15, 2010. He was appointed as Acting Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court with effect from October 06, 2019 till November 02,2019 and from September 30, 2020 till January 02, 2021. On January 08, 2021 he was transferred to Allahabad High Court. 

Case BriefsHigh Courts

Tripura High Court: Akil Kureshi, CJ., dismissed a writ petition which was filed by the petitioner praying for regularizing her in service w.e.f. 14-02-2002, i.e. on completion of 10 years of service with all consequential benefits.

Counsel for the petitioner, Mr Arijit Bhowmik however submitted that the expectation of the petitioner was for being granted regularization w.e.f. 01-07-2008 as provided in office memorandum dated 01-09-2008 issued by the State Government.

The petitioner was appointed as temporary fixed pay worker (clerical) under an order dated 15-02-1992 by the Notified Area Authority, Dharmanagar. This Notified Area Authority was later on upgraded as Dharmanagar Nagar Panchayat and thereafter to the status of Dharmanagar Municipal Council. All the employees of the Notified Area Authority automatically became the employees of Dharmanagar Municipal Council. Under an office memorandum dated 14-12-2012 the Finance Department, Government of Tripura granted its concurrence for regularization of temporary workers. Accordingly, the petitioner was regularized by an order dated 20-12-2012 with effect from the said date. The grievance of the petitioner was that such regularization was granted prospectively from the date of the order instead of regularizing her services w.e.f. 01-07-2008 as provided in office memorandum dated 01-09-2008.

Counsel for the respondent, Mr R.G. Chakraborty and Mr Rajib Saha contended that regularization of daily rated or contingent staff was subject to concurrence of the Finance Department which was granted only in the year 2012. The regularization, therefore, cannot be granted with retrospective effect.

The Court after perusing the office memorandum observed that the eligibility criteria was that the DRW, Casual or Contingent Workers should have been engaged prior to 31-03-2003 and should have completed 10 years full-time work on 01-07-2012. The cut-off date of 31-03-2008 as envisaged in office memorandum dated 01.09.2008, for the workers of Municipal Council and Panchayats was shifted to 01-07-2012. Further, the eligible workers would be provided the pay scale in the entry level scale from prospective date of joining the regular scale post. This office memorandum thus did not envisage granting regularization from retrospective effect.

The Court while dismissing the petition held that petitioner cannot seek the benefit of regularization from any date anterior to the date of order of regularization.

[Vaswati Sharma v. State of Tripura, 2021 SCC OnLine Tri 270 decided on 13-05-2021]

Suchita Shukla, Editorial Assistant has put this report together 

Case BriefsHigh Courts

Uttaranchal High Court: The Division Bench of Raghvendra Singh Chauhan, CJ., and Alok Kumar Verma, J., decided over a petition which was filed by the petitioner challenging the legality of the order dated 19-02-2020, whereby she was denied the chance to appear for interview for the post of Assistant Professor (Political Science). She had further prayed that the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission (“the Commission”) should be directed to consider her degree of M.A. in Public Administration as an eligible degree for being appointed on the post of Assistant Professor (Political Science).

The petitioner had done her graduation in the year 2005 with the subjects of English, Economics and Political Science. In the year 2008, she had completed her M.A. in Public Administration. She had also qualified the Uttarakhand State Eligibility Test (USET) in Political Science. Eventually, she had completed her Ph.D. in Political Science. After having completed her studies, she was appointed as a Guest Lecturer in Political Science in the Government Degree College, Jakholi, Rudraprayag. The Commission had advertised post of Assistant Professor (Political Science) in various degree colleges in the State and she had applied for the same. She had appeared in the written examination, and cleared the same however the Commission, refused the petitioner the right to appear in the interview ostensibly on the ground that her M.A. degree was in Public Administration. The petitioner had filed a representation on 11-02-2020, wherein she clearly pointed out that, according to the UGC guidelines issued on 04-07-2018, a degree in Public Administration was deemed to be equivalent to a degree in Political Science. Her representation was rejected by respondent 3. Hence, the instant writ petition was filed.

This Court had directed the Commission to consider the candidacy of the petitioner by order dated 21-10-2020, and to permit her to appear in the interview on a provisional basis. Furthermore, by order dated 08-04-2021, this Court had called for the result of the petitioner which clearly revealed that the petitioner has passed the examination.

The Court observed that undoubtedly, according to the UGC guidelines issued on 04-07-2018, a degree of M.A. in Public Administration was equivalent to a degree of M.A. in Political Science. Therefore, according the UGC, the petitioner would be deemed to be equipped with a degree of M.A. in Political Science. The Court further held that she had a right to be considered for appointment on the post of Assistant Professor (Political Science) as she had already qualified the examination. The Court directed respondent 3 to consider the petitioner’s case for the post of Assistant Professor (Political Science), if she was found to be eligible and suitable for the said post.

[Minakshi Sharma v. State of Uttarakhand, 2021 SCC OnLine Utt 460, decided on 13-05-2021]

Suchita Shukla, Editorial Assistant has put this report together 

Counsel for the petitioner. : Mrs Prabha Naithani

Counsel for respondent 1 and 2. : Mr. C.S. Rawat

Counsel for respondent 3. : Mr. B.D. Kandpal

Counsel for respondent 4. : Mr. Vikas Pande

Appointments & TransfersNews

Orders of Resignation

Justice Sharad Kumar Gupta tendered his resignation from the office of Judge, Chhattisgarh High Court with effect from 31-03-2021.

Ministry of Law and Justice

[Notification dt. 28-04-2021]

Appointments & TransfersNews

Appointment of Acting Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court

Justice Sanjay Yadav, senior-most Judge of Allahabad High Court, to perform duties of the Chief Justice of that Court with effect from 14-04-2021 consequent upon retirement of Justice Govind Mathur, Chief Justice, Allahabad High Court.

Ministry of Law and Justice

[Notification dt. 09-04-2021]

Appointments & TransfersNews

President appoints  7 Additional Judges of the Allahabad High Court.

  • Mohd. Aslam
  • Anil Kumar Ojha
  • Smt. Sadhna Rani (Thakur)
  • Naveen Srivastava
  • Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi
  • Ajai Tyagi
  • Ajai Kumar Srivastava-I

The period of appointment for the above Additional Judges differ.

The appointment of Sadhna Rani (Thakur), Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi and Ajai Kumar Srivastava-I, would be for a period of two years with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices.

However, the period of appointment of Mohd. Aslam, Anil Kumar Ojha, Naveen Srivastava, and Ajai Tyagi, would be with effect from the date they assumes charge of their offices till 14th January, 2023, 1st July, 2022, 19th December, 2021 and 31st December, 2022 respectively.

Ministry of Law and Justice

[Notification dt. 22-03-2021]

Appointments & TransfersNews

President appoints the following two Additional Judges of the Karnataka High Court:

  • Rajendra Badamikar
  • Sushree Kazi Jayabunnisa Mohiuddin

The above two Judges have been appointed for a period of 2 years.

Ministry of Law and Justice

[Notification dt. 22-03-2021]

Appointments & TransfersNews

President appoints Naresh Kumar Chandravanshi and Narendra Kumar Vyas to be Additional Judges of the Chhattisgarh High Court, for a period of 2 years.

About:

Narendra Kumar Vyas, B.Sc., L.L.B. had enrolled as Advocate on 16.03.1996. He has over 23 years of experience. He has practiced in Labour Court, Industrial Court, District Court, Bilaspur, Raigarh, Janjgeer-Champa, EPF Tribunal, Central Government Industrial Tribunal cum Labour Court during period 1996 to 2002 and after that has been practicing in the Chhattisgarh High Court till date.

Naresh Kumar Chandravanshi, B.A., LL.B., joined the Judicial Service on 11.07.1990. As a Judicial Officer, he served as Additional District & Sessions Judge, Sakti, Additional Registrar, High Court of Chhattisgarh, District & Sessions Judge, Surguja, Ambikapur, Legal Advisor to Governor of Chhattisgarh and presently he is working as Principal Secretary, Law & Legislative Affairs Department, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Raipur.

Ministry of Law and Justice

[Notification dt. 19-03-2021]

Appointments & TransfersNews

Collegium Statement

Supreme Court collegium reiterates its recommendations for the elevation of the following Advocates as Judges in High Courts:

High Courts

Name
Kerala Shri Viju Abraham
Kerala Shri Mohammed Nias C.P. and Shri Paul K.K.
Karnataka Nagendra Ramachandra Naik
Himachal Pradesh Shri Satyen Vaidya

Supreme Court of India

Appointments & TransfersNews

Collegium Statement

On 5th March 2021, Supreme Court Collegium approved the proposal for the appointment of the following Additional Judges as Permanent Judges of Allahabad High Court:

  1. Shri Justice Ali Zamin,
  2. Shri Justice Vipin Chandra Dixit,
  3. Shri Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav,
  4. Shri Justice Ravi Nath Tilhari,
  5. Shri Justice Deepak Verma,
  6. Shri Justice Gautam Chowdhary,
  7. Shri Justice Shamim Ahmed,
  8. Shri Justice Dinesh Pathak,
  9. Shri Justice Manish Kumar, and
  10. Shri Justice Samit Gopal.

Supreme Court of India

Case BriefsHigh Courts

Patna High Court: Birendra Kumar, J., addressed the instant petition against the order of State whereby the petitioner’s application for voluntary retirement was treated as an application for resignation.

On 31-10-2005 the petitioner filed an application to the Secretary, Health Department, stating therein that due to certain personal and family reasons the petitioner was not in a position to discharge his official duty with responsibility. Hence, he may be permitted to retire voluntarily with effect from 01-02-2006. Since, the petitioner had not completed 20 years of service for retiral benefit, the petitioner made further prayer in the said application that the intervening period between 01-11-2005 to 31-01-2006 be treated as a period spent on extra-ordinary leave.

The technical difficulty in allowing voluntary retirement was that the petitioner had not completed 30 years qualifying service or attained 50 years of age on the date of application for voluntary retirement as required by Rule 74(b) of the Bihar Service Code. The respondent initiated a departmental proceeding against the petitioner on the ground that the petitioner was absent from duty without any permission of the authority and was reportedly engaged in services of some other State. Consequently, the respondent treated the application of the petitioner as an application of resignation without any rhyme or reason or any such averment in the application.

Noticing that the authorities did not take any decision on the prayer of the petitioner for voluntary retirement made in the year 2006 till 2013 and in 2013 the petitioner was fulfilling the conditions for voluntary retirement as per Rule 74(b) of the Bihar Service Code and had already completed 50 years of his age for qualifying to make prayer for voluntary retirement., the Bench stated,

“Either the authorities should have accepted the prayer of the petitioner or would have rejected the same in toto but they could not have treated the same as application of resignation.”

Therefore, it was held that the act of respondent suffered from arbitrariness and takes away the valuable legal right of the petitioner which made it unsustainable in law.  Hence, the impugned order was quashed. The respondents were directed to treat the prayer of the petitioner as prayer for voluntary retirement with all the retiral benefits according to law which would be effective from the date of the impugned order, i.e., 02-01-2013. [Vinoy Singh v. State Of Bihar, CW No. 1556 of 2019, decided on 19-02-2021]

Kamini Sharma, Editorial Assistant has put this story together

Appointments & TransfersNews

Appointment of Judges

President appoints S/Shri (i) Murali Purushothaman (ii) Ziyad Rahman Alevakkatt Abdul Rahiman (iii) Karunakaran Babu and (iv) Dr. Kauser Edappagath, to be Additional Judges of the Kerala High Court.

Read more about Judges:

Murali P., LL.B., was enrolled as an Advocate on 09.03.1991. He has 28 years of experience, practicing in High Court of Kerala from 11.03.1991 to 16.07.2019 in Election Law, Family Law, Labour Law, Cooperative Society Law, Contract Law, Constitutional Law and Service Law. He has specialisation in Election and Service Law. He was Standing Counsel for the State Election Commission, Delimitation  Commission of Kerala, Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee for Self Financing Professional Colleges and as Government Pleader in the High Court of Kerala in 2001.

Ziyad Rahman A.A, BA, LL.B., has 22 years of experience, practicing in the High Court of Kerala and also appeared before in Subordinate Courts, Tribunals in Constitutional, Civil, Land Laws, Electricity Criminal, Banking, Motor Vehicles, Insurance, Labour, Company, Consumer, Administration, Municipality, Taxation, Rent Control law matters and has specialisation in Electricity Laws, Motor Vehicle Laws, Insurance Act, Employees Compensation Act, Constitutional matters.

Shri K. Babu, M.A (Economics), LL.B, LL.M., joined Judicial Service on 21.05.2009 as Additional District Judge-I and he served in various capacities at different places as a Judicial Officer. Presently, he is serving as Principal District Judge, Thiruvanthapuram in addition appointed as Chairman of the Administrative Committee of Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple by the Hon ‘ble Supreme Court of India w.e.f. 19.11.2018.

Dr. Kauser Edappagath, BA (Law), LL.B, LL.M, Ph.D., joined Judicial Service on 21.05.2009 as Additional District and Sessions Judge and he served in various capacities at different places as a Judicial Officer. Presently, he is serving as Principal District and Sessions Judge/ State Transport Appellate Tribunal, Ernakulum since 08.01.2018.

Link to the notification: Order of Appointment

Ministry of Law and Justice

[Notification dt. 22-02-2021]

Appointments & TransfersNews

Appointment of Judges

President appoints S/Shri (i) Jasmeet Singh and (ii) Amit Bansal, to be Judges of the Delhi High Court.

Shri Jasmeet Singh, B.Com (Hons), LL.B, has 27 years of experience, practicing Delhi High Court and Subordinate Courts from 1992 onwards. He has been practising in Constitutional, Civil, Labour, Service, and Matrimonial covering all branches of Law. He has specialization in Service and Civil Law.

Shri Amit Bansal, B.Com. (Hons), LL.B, LL.M, has specialization in Education Laws, Arbitration Laws, Indirect Taxes Law, Service Law. He served as Senior Standing Counsel, Central Board of indirect Taxes and Customs, Standing Counsel and Legal Advisor, Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) from 2004, National Testing Agency (NTA), Additional Standing Counsel, University of Delhi, in the Delhi High Court from 2008 and Additional Standing Counsel, NDMC from 1999-2005.

Link to the notification: Order of Appointment

Ministry of Law and Justice

Notification dt. 22-02-2021

Appointments & TransfersNews

President appoints Justice Puligoru Venkata Sanjay Kumar, Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to be the Chief Justice of Manipur High Court.

NOTIFICATION

Ministry of Law and Justice

[Notification dt. 12-02-2021]

Appointments & TransfersNews

President appoints Pushpa Virendra Ganediwala, to be an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court for a period of 1 year with effect from 13-02-2021.

Notably, Justice Ganediwala authored the following two controversial Judgments:

 

NOTIFICATION

Ministry of Law and Justice 

[Notification dt. 12-02-2021]