Central government notifies appointment of Kaushik Goswami as Gauhati High Court judge

The Central government on Thursday notified the appointment of Senior Advocate Kaushik Goswami as an additional judge of the Gauhati High Court..Union Minister of State with independent charge of the Law and Justice Ministry, Arjun Ram Meghwal, took to X (formerly Twitter) to share the development. A formal notification was also uploaded on the website of the Union Department of Justice. .Pertinently, the Central government appears to have deferred processing the name of Senior Counsel Unni Krishnan Nair, whose name was also proposed in the same Collegium resolution in which Senior Advocate Goswami's name was recommended. .The Collegium resolution published on the apex court's website on October 17 states that the Gauhati High Court Collegium had recommended both two lawyers for judgeship on May 29 this year.The views of constitutional authorities of the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland, were then taken. Following this, the judges at the apex court conversant with the affairs of the Gauhati High Court were also consulted by the Supreme Court Collegium.The inputs of the Union Department of Justice (DoJ) were considered as well to determine the fitness and suitability of the lawyers for elevation.For Senior Advocate Goswami, the consultee judges gave a positive opinion across the board.The DoJ had noted his good professional competence and that nothing came to be noticed against his integrity.As regards Senior Counsel Nair, all four consultee-judges had unanimously given a positive opinion. The DoJ had noted his professional competence but had made an adverse observation.However, the Collegium had opined that this should not come in the way of the recommendation, particularly when the government had put on record a report that nothing adverse has come to notice against his integrity..With Goswami's appointment, the Gauhati High Court will function with 25 judges as against a sanctioned strength of 30 judges..[Read Notification]