Justice Akil Kureshi: Some “administrative formalities” remain, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta today informed the Supreme Court that only some administrative formalities remain in relation to the recommendation made by Collegium to appoint Justice Akil Kureshi as Chief Justice of Tripura High Court.

When the petition filed by Gujarat High Court Advocates Association (GHCAA) came up for hearing today before a Bench of CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Surya Kant, Mehta requested adjournment till Monday next week.

The Bench proceeded to ask reason for the same when Mehta said “some administrative formalities.”

Senior Advocate Arvind Datar appearing for GHCAA said that the Court has granted a lot of indulgence to the Centre in the matter. He prayed for listing of the matter on Friday this week.

The Court proceeded to list the matter for Thursday.

Justice Kureshi, a senior judge originally from the Gujarat High Court, is currently serving as a judge of the Bombay High Court following a transfer. In May this year, the Supreme Court Collegium had recommended that Justice Kureshi be appointed as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

Various other recommendations made by the Collegium, barring the one related to Justice Kureshi, were approved by the Centre.

The GHCAA had filed a petition in the Supreme Court taking objection to the Central government’s reluctance to appoint Justice Akil Kureshi as Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court.

When that petition was heard on September 16 by a Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices SA Bobde and S Abdul Nazeer, the Supreme Court had stated that a decision had been taken and would soon be published on the Supreme Court website.

On September 20, it was revealed that the Supreme Court Collegium modified its recommendation to appoint Justice Akil Kureshi as Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court. It had, instead, resolved to appoint Justice Kureshi as Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court.

The resolution passed by the Collegium on September 5 intimated that the Central government had returned the proposal to appoint Justice Kureshi to Madhya  Pradesh High Court twice. The two communications were received by the Collegium on August 23 and August 27 along with accompanying material. Taking into account the same, the Collegium had decided to modify its decision of May 10 and recommend that Justice Kureshi be appointed as Tripura High Court Chief Justice.

Meanwhile, the Central Government recently notified the appointment of former Meghalaya High Court Chief Justice, Justice AK Mittal as the next Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh on October 30.

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