Judicial Appointments Tracker - March 2025: Thirteen recommendations withheld by government

Judicial Appointments Tracker aims to provide monthly updates on the appointment status of a candidate from the time they are recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium until the appointment is cleared by the Central government.Below are the details of the recommendations made by the Collegium in March 2025 and their current status..March 5The Collegium recommended the appointment of seven lawyers as Rajasthan High Court judges.The Central government cleared four of the names on March 26 while three are pending. The candidates who have not been cleared are Sandeep Taneja, Baljinder Singh Sandhu and Sheetal Mirdha.On March, the Collegium also recommended the appointment of three additional judges of Jammu and Kashmir High Court - Justices Wasim Sadiq Nargal, Rajesh Sekhri and Mohammad Yousuf Wani - as permanent judges. The same was cleared by the government on March 10..March 6.The Collegium on March 6 recommended the elevation of Justice Joymalya Bagchi of Calcutta High Court to the Supreme Court.The Central government cleared the same on March 10 and he took oath on March 17.At the Supreme Court, Justice Bagchi will have a considerably long tenure of over 6 years and will become the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in May 2031 upon retirement of Justice KV Viswanathan.However, he will serve as CJI only for a relatively short duration since he will retire in October 2031.Justice Bagchi will be the first CJI from Calcutta after late CJI Altamas Kabir who retired from office in 2013..The Collegium on March 6 also recommended that Jammu and Kashmir High Court Justice Atul Sreedharan be repatriated to his parent court - the Madhya Pradesh High Court.The same was approved by the Central government on March 14..The Collegium on March 6 recommended the appointment of Calcutta High Court Justice Harish Tandon as Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court.The Central government cleared the same on March 21..March 19The Collegium on the said date recommended the appointment of eight judicial officers as judges of the Gujarat High Court.The persons recommended were:1. Liyakathussain Shamsuddin Pirzada,2. Ramchandra Thakurdas Vachhani,3. Jayesh Lakhanshibhai Odedra,4. Pranav Maheshbhai Raval,5. Mool Chand Tyagi,6. Dipak Mansukhlal Vyas,7. Utkarsh Thakorbhai Desai, and8. Rohenkumar Kundanlal ChudawalaThe recommendations are yet to be cleared by the Central government..On the same date, the Collegium also recommended that three additional judges of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Sumeet Goel, Justice Sudeepti Sharma and Justice Kirti Singh be made permanent judges. The same was cleared by the Central government on March 26..On March 19, the Collegium also recommended a one-year extension of term for three additional judges of the Chhattisgarh High Court - Justices Sachin Singh Rajput, Radhakishan Agrawal and Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal.The recommendations were cleared by the government on March 26. .March 20The Collegium on March 20 recommended the transfer of Orissa High Court judge Justice Arindam Sinha to the Allahabad High Court.The Central government notified the same on March 28..March 24The Collegium on March 24 decided to repatriate Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma back to his parent Allahabad High Court.The move came after a fire at the judge's house allegedly led to the recovery of a huge pile of cash by the firefighters, triggering a huge controversy.Interestingly, the decision was taken by the Collegium after holding two meetings - one on March 20 and another on March 24.A fire at Justice Varma's house on the evening of March 14 had inadvertently led to the recovery of unaccounted cash by the fire fighters, as per Times of India.The Collegium decision, which was opposed by the Allahabad bar, was cleared by the Central government on March 28..March 25.The Collegium on the said date recommended the appointment of two advocates as the judges of Allahabad High Court.The two advocates recommended were Amitabh Kumar Rai and Rajiv Lochan Shukla.The recommendations are yet to be cleared by the Central government..March 27The Collegium on March 27 recommended the transfer of Delhi High Court Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma to the Calcutta High Court.The same was met with protests by the bar at Kolkata.Nevertheless, the Central government cleared the same on April 1..Final numbersTo sum up, the Central government has withheld clearance for 13 persons recommended by the Collegium in March 2025 for appointment as judges to three different High Courts.Three persons, Sandeep Taneja, Baljinder Singh Sandhu and Sheetal Mirdha, have not been cleared for Rajasthan High Court.Eight names have not been cleared for the Gujarat High Court while two have not been cleared for the Allahabad High Court.The eight persons who have not yet been cleared for Gujarat are Liyakathussain Shamsuddin Pirzada, Ramchandra Thakurdas Vachhani, Jayesh Lakhanshibhai Odedra, Pranav Maheshbhai Raval, Mool Chand Tyagi, Dipak Mansukhlal Vyas, Utkarsh Thakorbhai Desai and Rohenkumar Kundanlal Chudawala.The two persons not cleared for Allahabad are Amitabh Kumar Rai and Rajiv Lochan Shukla.Besides, four persons recommended by the Collegium for High Court judgeship in February are also yet to be cleared.The four whose names have not been cleared are Ritesh Kumar and Anshul Raj to the Patna High Court and Md Talay Masood Siddiqui and Krishnaraj Thaker for the Calcutta High Court.Interestingly, the government in March cleared the transfer of Justice Chandra Dhari Singh from Delhi to the Allahabad High Court.The same was recommended by the Collegium in November 2024. .Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.