In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court of India has directed the Himachal Pradesh High Court collegium to reconsider the elevation of two senior district judges, Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra, whose names were previously sidelined. The Court found that the decision to overlook their merit and seniority was made improperly, citing that the Chief Justice of the High Court acted individually, rather than in consultation with the collegium members.
The ruling came in response to a writ petition filed by Judges Singh and Malhotra, who argued that their names had been unjustly ignored by the Himachal Pradesh High Court collegium despite their qualifications. The Supreme Court’s bench, comprising Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice Prashant Kumar Misra, delivered the verdict, emphasizing that the procedure adopted by the High Court was contrary to established legal principles.
On Friday, the Supreme Court instructed the Himachal Pradesh High Court collegium to reconsider the names of the two judges for elevation in accordance with the Supreme Court collegium’s resolution dated January 4, 2024, and a subsequent letter from the Union Law Minister on January 16, 2024, which requested the High Court collegium to review their decision.
The Supreme Court observed that the High Court collegium’s process for reconsidering the petitioners’ names did not align with the precedents established in the Second and Third Judges cases. Justice Roy, reading out the operative portion of the judgment, noted, “There was no collective consultation and deliberation by the members of the High Court collegium… The decision of the Chief Justice of the High Court on the suitability of the two petitioners appears to be an individual decision. The same stands vitiated both procedurally and substantially.”
The petitioners, District Judge Chirag Bhanu Singh from Bilaspur and District Judge Arvind Malhotra from Solan, originally had their names recommended for elevation to the High Court in December 2022. However, on July 12, 2023, the Supreme Court collegium deferred their consideration, opting to revisit the matter at a later date.
On January 4, 2024, the Supreme Court collegium remitted the proposal concerning Singh and Malhotra back to the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court for fresh recommendations. Following this, on January 16, 2024, the Union Minister of Law and Justice formally requested the High Court collegium to reconsider the names of the two judges.
Subsequently, the Supreme Court sought a report from the Registrar General of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, querying whether the High Court collegium had acted in accordance with its earlier resolution. A report was submitted on July 15, 2024, and after reviewing the submissions, the Supreme Court reserved its judgment on August 6.
During the hearings, Senior Advocate Arvind Datar, representing the petitioners, argued that the High Court collegium had not called for their judgments while evaluating their suitability and eligibility for elevation. The petitioners sought a directive mandating the Himachal Pradesh High Court to reconsider their names as per the Supreme Court collegium’s resolution dated January 4, 2024, and to halt the consideration of other candidates for elevation until their grievance was resolved.
