NEW DELHI — The Centre on Friday notified the appointment of seven additional judges of the Bombay High Court as permanent judges and extended the term of two additional judges for a year.
“In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 217 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint S/Shri Justices (i) Yanshivraj Gopichand Khobragade, (ii) Mahendra Wadhumal Chandwani, (iii) Abhay Sopanrao Waghwase, and (iv) Ravindra Madhusudan Joshi, Additional Judges of the Bombay High Court, to be Judges of that High Court with effect from the date they assume the charge of their respective offices,” said a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice.
In another notification, the appointment of Justices Santosh Govindrao Chapalgaonkar, Milind Manohar Sathaye and Neela Kedar Gokhale was cleared by the Union government.
In a separate notification, the Centre said, “In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 224 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint i) Shri Justice Sanjay Anandrao Deshmukh and (ii) Smt Justice Vrushali Vijay Joshi, Additional Judges of the Bombay High Court, to be Additional Judges of the Bombay High Court, for a fresh term of one year with effect from October 7, 2024.”
Last week, the Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, recommended the appointment of seven additional judges of the Bombay High Court as permanent judges and an extension of the term of two additional judges for a year.
In April this year, the Collegium of the Bombay High Court forwarded its unanimous recommendations for the appointment of additional judges viz Justices Khobragade, Chandwani, Waghwase, Joshi, Chapalgaonkar, Sathaye and Gokhale, as permanent judges and for further extension of the term of Justices Sanjay Anandrao Deshmukh and Vrushali Vijay Joshi.
The SC Collegium said that it consulted other judges of the apex court who are conversant with the affairs of the Bombay High Court in terms of the Memorandum of Procedure to ascertain their suitability, adding that the committee of two judges of the Supreme Court constituted by the CJI rated the judgments of these additional judges “upto the mark”.
After scrutinising and evaluating the material placed on record and having considered all aspects of the matter, the SC Collegium found that these seven judges were fit and suitable for being appointed as permanent judges and recommended that Justices Deshmukh and Joshi be appointed as Additional Judges for a fresh term of one year with effect from October 7, 2024.