Supreme Court Collegium recommends appointment of Additional Advocate General Biswadeep Bhattacharjee as Meghalaya High Court judge

The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the appointment of Additional Advocate General Biswadeep Bhattacharjee as a judge of the Meghalaya High Court..A Collegium resolution to this effect was uploaded today. As per the statement, the Collegium had resolved on July 12 that the elevation of advocate Biswadeep Bhattacharjee to the bench would be a ‘value addition’ to the High Court.Bhattacharjee has been holding the post of Additional Advocate General (AAG) in Meghalaya since 2018, as also noted in the Supreme Court Collegium's statement. The High Court Collegium had recommended his name on August 12 last year. However, no constitutional functionary in the State of Meghalaya had since given their input on the proposal.As such, the High Court Collegium decided to move ahead with forwarding the proposal to the Supreme Court. “The proposal has, therefore, been forwarded by the Department of Justice to the Supreme Court by invoking Para 14 of the Memorandum of Procedure which provides that if the comments of the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister are not received within six weeks from the date of receipt of the proposal, it shall be presumed that the constitutional authorities in the State have nothing to add to the proposal and the proposal may accordingly be processed”, the resolution notes.Subsequently, a judge of the Supreme Court conversant with the affairs of the High Court of Meghalaya was consulted..AAG Bhattacharjee has a good standing at the Bar, knowledge across matters, and has been Amicus Curiae in two criminal appeals, the Supreme Court Collegium noted. Nothing adverse was reported with regard to his personal integrity, the Collegium further observed.The Supreme Court Collegium, therefore, resolved to recommend AAG Bhattacharjee's name for elevation to the Meghalaya High Court bench..The Meghalaya High Court is currently functioning with three judges as against a sanctioned strength of four..[Read Collegium Resolution]