SC collegium recommends Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari as Madras High Court Chief Justice, 17 others for appointment as HC judges

New Delhi: The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana has recommended to the Centre that Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari be appointed as the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.

The collegium, which also comprised senior-most judges Justices U U Lalit and A M Khanwilkar, held deliberations on December 14, 2021, and January 29, 2022, recommended 17 names for appointment as judges in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa high courts.

Justice Bhandari, whose parent high court is the Rajasthan HC, has been serving as the Acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.

“The Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on December 14, 2021, to  January 29, 2022, has recommended elevation of Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari, Judge, Madras High Court (PHC: Rajasthan) as Chief Justice of Madras High Court,” said a statement posted at the apex court website.

Of the 17 names for judges in the three high courts, the collegium has decided to recommend names of seven advocates as judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

“The Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on 29th January 2022 has approved the proposal for elevation of the following advocates as Judges in the Andhra Pradesh High Court: 1. Shri Konakanti Sreenivasa Reddy @Srinivasa Reddy, 2. Shri Gannamaneni Ramakrishna Prasad, 3. Shri Venkateswarlu Nimmagadda, 4. Shri Tarlada Rajasekhar Rao, 5. Shri Satti Subba Reddy, 6. Shri Ravi Cheemalapati, and 7. Smt. Vaddiboyana Sujatha,” the statement said.

The collegium has also approved the proposal for the elevation of six names for appointment as judges in Madhya Pradesh high court.

Names of three advocates - Maninder Singh Bhatti, Dwarka Dhish Bansal and Milind Ramesh Phadke., and three judicial officers, Amar Nath Kesharwani, Prakash Chandra Gupta, and Dinesh Kumar Paliwal, have been recommended for judgeship in Madhya Pradesh HC, the statement said.

The Orissa High Court is also set to get four more judges if the collegium's recommendation is accepted by the Centre.

“The Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on 29th January 2022 has approved the proposal for elevation of the following Advocates as Judges in the Orissa High Court: 1. Shri V. Narasingh, 2. Shri Sanjay Kumar Mishra, 3. Shri Biraja Prasanna Satapathy, and 4. Shri Sri Raman Murahari @ M.S. Raman,” the statement said.