Elevation row: Himachal HC submits report to SC on plea of 2 judges

The Himachal Pradesh high court has submitted to the Supreme Court a report in a "sealed cover" in response to a plea by two district and sessions judges alleging their merit and seniority were not considered for judgeship in the high court by its collegium.

The plea was filed by senior-most district and sessions judges Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra.

The high court's registrar general has said the HC's chief justice had written to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on December 11 last year, seeking guidance on whether the apex court collegium needed any further inputs about the suitability of Singh and Malhotra for elevation as HC judges, according to sources.

The report, according to the sources, states that the HC did not get the note of the Supreme Court collegium on the issue even after six months.

The plea of Singh and Malhotra came up for hearing on Monday in the Supreme Court.

"The report in sealed cover is furnished by the registrar general of the Himachal Pradesh high court. A copy of the said report be furnished today itself to Bina Madhavan, the counsel assisting Arvind P Datar, senior counsel appearing for the petitioners. The matter be re-listed on July 23," an apex court bench noted in the Monday order.

Earlier in May, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Hrishikesh Roy had sought a response from the HC's registrar general on the plea of the judges.

In their plea, Singh and Malhotra have alleged that their merit and seniority were not considered by the high court collegium in selection of names for HC judgeship.

Datar, appearing for the petitioners, had said judicial officers who are junior to them had been recommended for HC judgeship under the in-service quota.

Singh and Malhotra, at the time of filing the petition, were serving as the district and sessions judges at Bilaspur and Solan, respectively, in the Himachal Pradesh.

Referring to a January 4 resolution of the apex court collegium and a subsequent communication of the law ministry to the Himachal Pradesh high court, Datar, a senior lawyer, had said according to these, the names of the petitioner judicial officers should have been considered by the HC collegium.

"The petitioners are the senior-most judicial officers in the state and they have unblemished records," Datar had said.

The plea questioned the selection process of the judicial officers by high court collegium for elevation as HC judges and said their -- Singh and Malhotra -- merit and seniority were ignored despite the issue being specifically referred to in the apex court collegium's resolution.

The plea said the apex court collegium's decision to send their names for reconsideration by the HC collegium was followed by a communication from the Union law minister to the chief justice of the high court, urging him to reconsider the names of the petitioner judicial officers.

It alleged that the high court collegium did not consider these and proceeded to deliberate upon the names of other judicial officers.