The petition in the Supreme Court filed by the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association concerning the appointment of Justice Akil Kureshi as Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court will now be heard by a Bench headed by Justice SA Bobde.

The order was passed today by a Bench headed by outgoing Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.

Senior Advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for the petitioner, requested the Court to fix a timeline for the Central government to act on Collegium recommendations.

The Court, however, adjourned the matter. CJI Gogoi said,

“Let the matter be listed before a Bench headed by Justice SA Bobde.”

The Collegium had initially recommended the elevation of Justice Akil Kureshi as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. Delay by the Centre in notifying the appointment had prompted the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association (GHCAA) to file a petition in the Supreme Court to expedite the process.

While the petition was pending, the Central government had returned the file of Kureshi J to the Collegium.

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.

On the last date of hearing in the case, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta  informed the Supreme Court that some administrative formalities remain in relation to the recommendation made by Collegium to appoint Justice Akil Kureshi as Chief Justice of Tripura High Court. He thus requested that the matter be adjourned to Monday next week.

Datar, appearing for GHCAA, had 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.