<p>After years of dithering, the Centre is learnt to have cleared the file on the elevation of judicial officer P Krishna Bhat as a judge of the Karnataka High Court.</p>.<p>The notification on his appointment may come within two-three days, sources said.</p>.<p>Bhat, who was born in 1960, would have a tenure of just two years as a judge of the High Court.</p>.<p>The Centre has been sitting over the file on Bhat for quite some time. The Supreme Court Collegium had on October 15, 2019, rejected its request for reconsideration.</p>.<p>The Collegium had then asked the Centre to process “most expeditiously” the recommendation, made twice earlier for the elevation of Bhat as a judge of the Karnataka High Court.</p>.<p>The Collegium had first recommended his name way back in August 2016. It was reiterated on April 6, 2017. However, the Union government still sought reconsideration of the proposal, which was seen as "interference into the appointment of judges".</p>.<p>In a hard-hitting letter to the then CJI and all judges, Justice J Chelameswar (since retired) had in March, 2018 questioned the government's act of writing a letter directly to the Karnataka High Court's then chief justice Dinesh Maheshwari, now a Supreme Court judge, who had ordered an inquiry on some “old allegations” against Bhat by a woman judge.</p>.<p>He had asked the CJI to convene a full court to discuss “government's interference” in the appointment of judges to the high courts.</p>
<p>After years of dithering, the Centre is learnt to have cleared the file on the elevation of judicial officer P Krishna Bhat as a judge of the Karnataka High Court.</p>.<p>The notification on his appointment may come within two-three days, sources said.</p>.<p>Bhat, who was born in 1960, would have a tenure of just two years as a judge of the High Court.</p>.<p>The Centre has been sitting over the file on Bhat for quite some time. The Supreme Court Collegium had on October 15, 2019, rejected its request for reconsideration.</p>.<p>The Collegium had then asked the Centre to process “most expeditiously” the recommendation, made twice earlier for the elevation of Bhat as a judge of the Karnataka High Court.</p>.<p>The Collegium had first recommended his name way back in August 2016. It was reiterated on April 6, 2017. However, the Union government still sought reconsideration of the proposal, which was seen as "interference into the appointment of judges".</p>.<p>In a hard-hitting letter to the then CJI and all judges, Justice J Chelameswar (since retired) had in March, 2018 questioned the government's act of writing a letter directly to the Karnataka High Court's then chief justice Dinesh Maheshwari, now a Supreme Court judge, who had ordered an inquiry on some “old allegations” against Bhat by a woman judge.</p>.<p>He had asked the CJI to convene a full court to discuss “government's interference” in the appointment of judges to the high courts.</p>
