Centre clears 9 names as judges, including 2 reiterated by SC collegium

According to a notification, the President appointed Rahul Bharti and Moksha Khajuria Kazmi as Additional Judges of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh for two years. Both Kazmi and Bharti were candidates whose names had been reiterated by the Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana in September last year.

On October 15, 2019, the Supreme Court collegium, headed by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi, had recommended the appointment of Kazmi, a senior advocate who has served as Additional Advocate General during Governor’s rule in 2016 and later continued to serve in the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP government in J&K before her services were terminated.

Bharti was recommended by the Supreme Court collegium in March 2021 and his name was reiterated on September 1 last year.

The oldest recommendation pending with the government is of Wasim Nagral, a Jammu-based senior advocate. The SC collegium on April 6, 2018 recommended his name and subsequently, in January 2019 and again in March 2021, it reiterated its decision.

Advocates Nidumolu Mala and S Sounthar were also appointed additional judges of Madras High Court. On February 16, the collegium had recommended six names, including Mala and Sounthar, for appointment as judges. Four other names – Sunder Mohan, Kabali Kumaresh Babu, Abdul Ghani Abdul Hameed, and R John Sathyan – are still pending.

For Delhi HC, judicial officers Poonam A Bamba and Swarna Kanta Sharma were appointed. In Patna HC, advocates Rajiv Roy and Harish Kumar were appointed. Umesh Chandra Sharma, a judicial officer, was appointed a judge of Allahabad High Court.