Centre clears appointment of advocate Arun Kumar as Allahabad High Court judge

The Central government on Monday cleared the appointment of Advocate Arun Kumar as a judge of the Allahabad High Court.

The official notification released by Union Ministry of Law reads,

"In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 217 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Arun Kumar, to be a Judge of the Allahabad High Court with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office."

The development comes two years after Kumar was recommended for judgeship by the Collegium.

The Supreme Court Collegium, headed by the then Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had recommended Kumar's name for judgeship in May 2023.

The recommendation was made by the Allahabad High Court Collegium in September 2022 and the same was first considered by the Supreme Court Collegium on January 17, 2023.

At the time, the Collegium deferred the proposal for Kumar's elevation in view of an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report. The Collegium asked the IB to furnish specific material based on which its report was given.

On May 3, 2023, the Department of Justice forwarded to the Supreme Court an IB report dated February 1, which said that it does not have any additional inputs.

Following this, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended that Kumar be made a High Court judge.

According to a Collegium statement published on May 9, 2023, three consultee-judges positively opined on the suitability of Kumar for judgeship, while another consultee-judge did not express any opinion.

Further, the Chief Minister and the Governor of Uttar Pradesh also concurred with the recommendation, the Collegium further noted in 2023.

This proposal has now been cleared by the Central government.

[Read Notification]