Supreme Court Collegium recommends appointment of judicial officer as Calcutta HC judge

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, has recommended the appointment of judicial officer Chaitali Chatterjee (Das) as a judge of the Calcutta High Court.

The Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues, had recommended her name on September 26, 2023.

The SC Collegium noted that the Chief Minister and the Governor 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 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," it said.

It added that the Judges of the apex court conversant with the affairs of the Calcutta High Court were consulted to ascertain the fitness and suitability of the candidate. The SC Collegium said that it has scrutinised the material placed on record and all the three consultee Judges have unanimously and emphatically opined that the candidate is suitable for being appointed as a High Court Judge.

"The Judgment Evaluation Committee constituted by the Chief Justice of the High Court has rated the quality of judgments authored by her as very good by awarding 70 marks," it noted. Further, it also took note of the fact that the above proposal involves non-recommendation of some senior judicial officers and cogent reasons have been recorded by the High Court Collegium for overlooking them.