A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant K Mishra gave this ruling while directing Himachal Pradesh HC collegium to reconsider the suitability of two district judges – Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra – for appointment as HC judges.
Singh and Malhotra had jointly moved a petition questioning the validity of HC CJ‘s individual decision to decline reconsideration of their names even after the SC collegium had on Jan 4 asked the HC collegium to reconsider their suitability. HC had questioned maintainability of the petition as it appeared to question the collegium system of selecting persons for appointment as HC judges.
Ruling in favour of the two district judges, the bench said the petition was maintainable, pointing out a procedural lapse as the HC CJ had individually taken the decision when it should have been taken collectively by the CJ and two most senior judges of HC.
“The decision of the HC CJ, on the suitability of the two petitioners as conveyed in his letter dated 6th March 2024, appears to be an individual decision. The same therefore stands vitiated both procedurally and substantially,” the bench said.
Writing the judgment, Justice Roy said the letter addressed by the SC collegium to the HC CJ does not enable him to act without participation by the other two collegium members. “This court is mindful of the limited scope of interference in such matters. But this appears to be a case where there was no collective consultation amongst the three Constitutional functionaries of high court i.e. the chief justice and two senior-most companion judges,” he said.
“Absence of the element of plurality, in the process of reconsideration as directed by the SC collegium, is clearly discernible,” the bench said.
HC had shown SC a letter written by one of the judicial officers giving vent to his hurt feelings for getting ignored by HC despite having an unblemished judicial record and argued that the letter was contemptuous.
Brushing aside HC’s argument, Justices Roy and Mishra said, “We have perused the letter. It is definitely an expression of hurt by the judicial officer but will not bring the letter into the contemptuous category.”
“In light of the above, the HC collegium should now reconsider the names of Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra for elevation as judges of HC, following the SC Collegium decision dated 4th Jan, 2024 and law minister’s letter dated 16th Jan, 2024. It is ordered accordingly,” SC said.