Bombay High Court gets three permanent judges

“In exercise of the power conferred by clause (l) of Article 217 and by clause (l) of Article Article 224 of the Constitution of India, the President, after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, is pleased to appoint the following as Judges /Additional Judge of the following High Courts, w.e.f. the date they assume charge of their respective offices, vide notifications dated 03.01.2022…” the notification stated.

While Justices Madhav Jayajirao Jamdar, Amit Bhalchandra Borkar and Shrikant Dattatray Kulkarni were appointed permanent judges, Justice Abhay Ahuja’s tenure has been extended as an additional judge by a year.

In July last year the Bombay HC Collegium had recommended names of five additional judges — Justices Jamdar, Borkar, Kulkarni, Ahuja, and Justice Pushpa Ganediwala — to be appointed permanent judges. According to a statement by the Supreme Court Collegium on December 16 last year, Justices Jamdar, Borkar and Kulkarni were recommended for appointment as permanent judges with a recommendation to extend the tenure of Justice Ahuja by a year.

In a rare instance of demotion of an HC judge, the collegium decided to not recommend Justice Ganediwala as permanent judge of Bombay HC after two of her verdicts were closely scrutinised for controversial interpretation of sexual assault under POCSO Act, 2012.

Justice Ganediwala’s tenure is expected to end on February 13.

In a separate notification, the government appointed Justice Aniruddha Roy, additional judge of Calcutta HC, as permanent judge of the HC. In January last year, the collegium had reiterated its recommendation to appoint justice Roy, as Centre had not acted on the first recommendation made in 2018.