Appointing High Court Judges–II

The recent pattern of appointments to the high courts across India suggests that the principles laid down in the Third Judges Case and the practice constituted in the Memorandum of Procedure have been ignored. With the union government’s practice of segregating recommendations and the refusal to appoint nominees even after reiteration by the collegium, it is questionable whether the present system of appointment can be called the collegium system of appointment

On 4 February 2022, the former additional advocate general of Karnataka and senior advocate, Aditya Sondhi, withdrew his consent to be elevated as a judge of the High Court of Karnataka (Aditya 2022). This was not done in a fit of pique—it had been a year since his name was first proposed by the Supreme Court collegium and five months since his name was reiterated by the collegium. Yet, no appointment order was forthcoming from the union government.