SC collegium recommends appointment of chief justices for 3 high courts

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court’s three-member collegium Thursday recommended appointment of chief justices to the high courts of Manipur, Meghalaya and Patna.The collegium of CJI B R Gavai and Justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath recommended to the Union govt to appoint Karnataka HC Justice P B Bajanthri as CJ of Patna HC (at present acting CJ of Patna HC), Calcutta HC Justice Soumen Sen as CJ of Meghalaya HC, and Madras HC Justice M Sunder as CJ of Manipur HC.Bajanthri was appointed a judge of Karnataka high court on Jan 2, 2015, and transferred to Punjab and Haryana HC two months later. He was repatriated to his parent HC in Nov 2018 and was again transferred to Patna high court in Oct 2021. At present, he is the acting chief justice of Patna HC and is scheduled to retire on Oct 22 this year.Sen was appointed as a judge of Calcutta HC in Apr 2011. The collegium recommended his name for appointment as CJ of Manipur, which at present is headed by Justice K Somashekar who is scheduled to retire on Sept 14. Manipur HC at present has three judges, including the CJ, even though the HC has sanctioned strength of five judges, including the CJ. Sundar was appointed a judge of Madras HC in Oct 2016. On the President appointing him as CJ of Meghalaya HC, the HC would attain its full strength of four judges, including the CJ.