The Supreme Court collegium has recommended the names of Justices Biswaroop Chowdhury, Partha Sarathi Sen, Prasenjit Biswas, Uday Kumar, Ajay Kumar Gupta, Supratim Bhattacharya, Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, Apurba Sinha Ray and Md. Shabbar Rashidi as additional judges of the Calcutta High Court for a fresh term of one year.

A decision to extend the term of the nine judges for a fresh term of one year was taken late on Wednesday by the collegium headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and the two senior-most judges — Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice B.R. Gavai. They decided to proceed with the extension despite the Bengal chief minister and the governor not conveying their views on the recommendations.

The resolution of the collegium stated that at an earlier meeting held on April 29, the collegium of the Calcutta High Court unanimously recommended the names of the above-mentioned additional judges for appointment as permanent judges of the high court.

“The Chief Minister and the Governor of the State of West Bengal have not conveyed their views on the above recommendation. The Department of Justice has forwarded the above recommendation by invoking Para 14 of the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) which provides that if the comments of the Constitutional authorities in the State are not received within the prescribed time-frame, it should be presumed by the Minister of Law and Justice that the Governor and the Chief Minister have nothing to add to the proposal and proceed accordingly.

“In order to ascertain the suitability of the above-named Additional Judges for being appointed as permanent Judges, we have consulted our colleagues who are conversant with the affairs of the High Court at Calcutta. A 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 Additional Judges.

“With a view to assess the merit and suitability of the above-named Additional Judges for their appointment as permanent Judges, the Collegium has scrutinized and evaluated the material placed on record. Having considered all aspects of the matter and on an overall consideration of the above proposal, the Collegium is of the considered view that S/Shri Justices (i) Biswaroop Chowdhury, (ii) Partha Sarathi Sen, (iii) Prasenjit Biswas, (iv) Uday Kumar, (v) Ajay Kumar Gupta, (vi) Supratim Bhattacharya, (vii) Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, (viii) Apurba Sinha Ray, and (ix) Md. Shabbar Rashidi, Additional Judges, deserve to be appointed as Additional Judges for a fresh term of one year.

“In view of the above, the Collegium resolves to recommend that S/Shri Justices (i) Biswaroop Chowdhury, (ii) Partha Sarathi Sen, (iii) Prasenjit Biswas, (iv) Uday Kumar, (v) Ajay Kumar Gupta, (vi) Supratim Bhattacharya, (vii) Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, (viii) Apurba Sinha Ray, and (ix) Md. Shabbar Rashidi, Additional Judges, be appointed as Additional Judges of the High Court at Calcutta for a fresh term of one year with effect from 31 August 2024,” the Supreme Court collegium resolution stated.