The Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana, has recommended the appointment of six advocates as judges to the Madras High Court and 10 advocates as judges to the Bombay High Court.
In a statement, the top court said: "The Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on 16th February, 2022 has approved the proposal for elevation of the following advocates as judges in the Madras High Court: Nidumolu Mala, Sunder Mohan, Kabali Kumaresh Babu, S. Sounthar, Abdul Ghani Abdul Hameed, and R. John Sathyan."
Another statement published on the website of the top court said: "The Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on 16th February, 2022 has approved the proposal for elevation of the following advocates as judges in the Bombay High Court: Kishore Chandrakant Sant, Valmiki Menezes SA, Kamal Rashmi Khata, Sharmila Uttamrao Deshmukh, Arun Ramnath Pednekar, Sandeep Vishnupant Marne, Gauri Vinod Godse, Rajesh Shantaram Patil, Arif Saleh Doctor, and Somasekhar Sundaresan."
The top court collegium approved the proposal for appointment of Justice Ahanthem Bimol Singh, additional judge of the Manipur High Court, as permanent judge of that high court.
Last week, Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari was appointed as the new chief justice of the Madras High Court. Justice Bhandari was the acting chief justice of the Madras High Court. He had taken over as the acting chief justice of Madras HC following the transfer of Justice Sanjib Banerjee to the Meghalaya HC in November last year.
At the time, the Law Ministry also notified the appointment of a total of 12 advocates and three judicial officers as judges of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh high courts.
While seven advocates were elevated to the Andhra Pradesh HC, three advocates each were appointed to the Orissa and Madhya Pradesh high courts. Three judicial officers were also appointed as judges to the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Last year, a total of 120 judges were appointed to various high courts.
In a written reply, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju informed the Rajya Sabha that as on February 4, against the sanctioned strength of 1,098 judges in high courts, 687 judges were posted, leaving 411 vacancies to be filled.