SC Collegium Recommends Three Advocates To Be Judges For Gujarat High Court, Asks For Reconsideration Of One

The Collegium in another notification asked the Gujarat High Court to reconsider its proposal to elevate advocate Tejal Vashi as judge of that High Court.

The names of the advocates recommended are:

• Shri Sanjeev Jayendra Thaker,
• Shri Deeptendra Narayan Ray @ D N Ray,
• Shri Maulik Jitendra Shelat

On December 22, 2023, the Chief Justice of the High Court of Gujarat, along with her two senior-most colleagues, endorsed these names for elevation to the High Court. Despite this, the Chief Minister and Governor of Gujarat have yet to provide their opinions on the recommendation. According to paragraph 14 of the Memorandum of Procedure, if the views of the State constitutional authorities are not received within the stipulated timeframe, the Minister of Law and Justice is to assume that they have no comments to add and proceed with the recommendation.

The notification dated August 13, 2024 read, “In view of the above, the Collegium resolves to recommend that S/Shri (i) Sanjeev Jayendra Thaker, (ii) Deeptendra Narayan Ray @ D N Ray, and (iii) Maulik Jitendra Shelat, Advocates, be appointed as Judges of the High Court of Gujarat. Their inter se seniority be fixed as per the existing practice.”

In another notification the Collegium requested the Gujarat High Court to review its proposal to appoint Advocate Tejal Vashi as a judge of that High Court.

The recommendation for Advocate Vashi’s appointment was initially made by the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court on December 22, in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues. The Supreme Court Collegium noted that the Chief Minister and the Governor of Gujarat had not provided their opinions on this recommendation.

The Department of Justice forwarded the proposal by invoking paragraph 14 of the Memorandum of Procedure. This paragraph stipulates that if the comments of the State constitutional authorities are not received within the specified timeframe, it should be assumed by the Minister of Law and Justice that the Governor and the Chief Minister have no additional input, and the process should proceed accordingly.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court Collegium undertook its own review, including an assessment of Ms. Vashi’s merit and suitability for the judicial position. The input from consultee-judges from Gujarat was generally positive regarding her qualifications.

Despite these positive assessments, the Collegium decided that it would be more appropriate to defer the decision on Ms. Vashi’s appointment. Her name will be reconsidered along with other candidates in the future.

The resolution dated August 13, 2024 issued by the Collegium stated, “On an overall consideration of the proposal, the Collegium is of the considered view that the proposal for elevation of Ms Tejal Vashi be remitted to the Chief Justice of the High Court for being re-considered with other eligible candidates in future. The Collegium resolves accordingly.”