The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended that eleven Additional Judges of the High Court of Bombay, be appointed as permanent Judges of that High Court in the following terms:
(i) Smt Justice Urmila Sachin Joshi-Phalke,
(ii) Shri Justice Bharat Pandurang Deshpande,
(iii) Shri Justice Kishore Chandrakant Sant,
(iv) Shri Justice Valmiki S A Menezes,
(v) Shri Justice Kamal Rashmi Khata,
(vi) Smt Justice Sharmila Uttamrao Deshmukh,
(vii) Shri Justice Arun Ramnath Pedneker,
(viii) Shri Justice Sandeep Vishnupant Marne,
(ix) Smt Justice Gauri Vinod Godse,
(x) Shri Justice Rajesh Shantaram Patil, and
(xi) Shri Justice Arif Saleh Doctor.
On 14 December 2023, the Collegium of the High Court of Bombay unanimously recommended the names of above eleven Additional Judges for appointment as permanent Judges of that High Court. The Chief Ministers and the Governors of the States of Maharashtra and Goa have concurred with the above recommendation.
In terms of the Memorandum of Procedure, the Judges of the Supreme Court conversant with the affairs of the High Court of Bombay were consulted with a view to ascertain the suitability of the above Judges for being appointed as permanent Judges. The Committee of two Judges of the Supreme Court constituted by the Chief Justice of India in terms of the Resolution dated 26 October 2017 of the Supreme Court Collegium has assessed the judgments of the above-named Additional Judges. With a view to assess the merit and suitability of the above Additional Judges for appointment as permanent Judges, we have scrutinized the material placed on record including the opinion of the consulteejudges and the report of the Judgment Evaluation Committee. Bearing in mind all aspects of the above proposal, the Collegium is of the view that (i) Smt Justice Urmila Sachin Joshi-Phalke, (ii) Shri Justice Bharat Pandurang Deshpande, (iii) Shri Justice Kishore Chandrakant Sant, (iv) Shri Justice Valmiki S A Menezes, (v) Shri Justice Kamal Rashmi Khata, (vi) Smt Justice Sharmila Uttamrao Deshmukh, (vii) Shri Justice Arun Ramnath Pedneker, (viii) Shri Justice Sandeep Vishnupant Marne, (ix) Smt Justice Gauri Vinod Godse, (x) Shri Justice Rajesh Shantaram Patil, and (xi) Shri Justice Arif Saleh Doctor, Additional Judges, are fit and suitable for being appointed as permanent Judges. In view of the above, the Collegium resolves to recommend that (i) Smt Justice Urmila Sachin Joshi-Phalke, (ii) Shri Justice Bharat Pandurang Deshpande, (iii) Shri Justice Kishore Chandrakant Sant, (iv) Shri Justice Valmiki S A Menezes, (v) Shri Justice Kamal Rashmi Khata, (vi) Smt Justice Sharmila Uttamrao Deshmukh, (vii) Shri Justice Arun Ramnath Pedneker, (viii) Shri Justice Sandeep Vishnupant Marne, (ix) Smt Justice Gauri Vinod Godse, (x) Shri Justice Rajesh Shantaram Patil, and (xi) Shri Justice Arif Saleh Doctor, Additional Judges, be appointed as permanent Judges of the High Court of Bombay against the existing vacancies.
