Face of Nation : Supreme Court Collegium on Friday recommended the elevation of Gujarat High Court Justice Akil Kureshi as the chief justice of the Tripura High Court. The court had on May 10 recommended that Kureshi be appointed the chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, but the government had not approved it.
On June 7, the government said in a notification that Ravi Shanker Jha would be the acting chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
On August 16, the Centre told the Supreme Court that the matter of Justice Kureshi’s elevation will be decided within a week. On August 28, the Supreme Court said it had received a recommendation from the Ministry of Law and Justice on Kureshi’s elevation.
“On reconsideration and after taking into account the aforesaid two communications dated 23rd August 2019 and 27th August 2019 and the accompanying material, the Collegium to reiterate its earlier recommendation dated May 10 with the modification that Mr Justice AA Kureshi be appointed as the Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court,” Supreme Court as saying on Friday.
Last month, the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association had called the Centre’s inaction on Qureshi’s recommendation, in a petition it filed in the Supreme Court. It labelled the inaction “an attack on the independence of the judiciary”.
Kureshi had been transferred from the Gujarat High Court to the Bombay High Court last year, despite protests from the bar. The Gujarat High Court Advocates Association President, Yatin Oza, had claimed that Kureshi was “being punished” for his 2010 verdict to send Home Minister Amit Shah to police custody for two days in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case.
