Govt forwards 69 names for HC judges to SC collegium

The Law Ministry is learnt to have forwarded names of 69 candidates to the Supreme Court collegium for appointment as high court judges.

According to established procedure, the high court collegiums send names of candidates shortlisted by them to the Law Ministry, which in turn forwards them to the SC collegium for the final call.

The Law Ministry attaches IB reports about the candidates while forwarding the names to the SC collegium.

The 69 names have been recommended by collegiums of 23 high courts.

Once the recommendations reach the SC collegium, going by precedent, nearly 40% of the names get rejected.

This year, 34 judges have been appointed in the 24 high courts. In 2016, 126 HC judges were appointed, which the government claims was the highest since independence.

On an average, 86 high court judges have been appointed in a year.