Srinagar: The Supreme Court High Court Collegium has recommended four lawyers, two each from Kashmir and Jammu, besides a judicial officer for appointment as judges of the highest court in the state.
Official sources said that the collegium, a panel of senior judges headed by Chief Justice of the high court, has recommended advocates Nazir Ahmad Beigh, Showkat Ahmad Makroo (Kashmir) and Wasim Nargal and Sindhu Sharma (Jammu) besides Rashid Ali Dar, incumbent Principal District and Session Judge Srinagar, for appointment as the judges.
N A Beigh has been recommended for the second time as the high court collegium headed by the then Chief Justice, M M Kumar, in 2014 forwarded his name to serve the highest judiciary in the state. However, he couldn’t make it to the final selection list.
In January this year, three judges –Justices Sanjeev Kumar, Maharaj Krishan Hanjura and Sanjay Kumar Gupta—took oath as judges of the high court.
The Kashmir High Bar Association had “protested” the appointment, calling it as discrimination against Kashmir. The lawyers’ body had said the appointment has created “regional imbalance” among the judges of the high court.
“An imbalance has been created in the High Court, as out of 12 judges only two are from Kashmir, as against five from Jammu, one from Ladakh, and four, including the Chief Justice, from outside the State,” lawyers body had said.
As per the existing Memorandum of Procedure, the proposal for appointment of a High Court Judge has to be initiated by the Chief Justice of the High Court. However, if the Chief Minister desires to recommend the name of any person he or she can forward the same to the Chief Justice for his consideration.
The high court has bench strength of 17 judges including the Chief Justice. At present, 12 judges including the Chief Justice are in place.
They include Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed and justices Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar, Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, Alok Aradhe, Ali Mohammad Magrey, Dhiraj Singh Thakur, Tashi Rabstan, Janak Raj Kotwal, Bawa Singh Walia, Sanjeev Kumar Shukla, M K Hanjura and Sanjay Kumar Gupta.
