The Supreme Court Collegium on Tuesday recommended the names of nine advocates for appointment as judges of the Bombay High Court.

The lawyers who have been recommended are:

- Rajesh Sudhakar Datar;

- Sachin Shivajirao Deshmukh;

- Gautam Ashwin Ankhad;

- Mahendra Madhavrao Nerilkar;

- Nivedita Prakash Mehta;

- Prafulla Surendra Kumar Khubalkar;

- Ashwin Damodar Bhobe;

- Rohit Wasudeo Joshi; and

- Advait Mahendra Sethna.

The names of the nine were forwarded to the Supreme Court Collegium by the High Court Collegium by way of two separate resolutions, one dated January 19 and the other dated April 19.

As per two resolutions, the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, in consultation with the two senior-most colleagues of the High Court, had recommended the names of the above-mentioned advocates for appointment as judges of the High Court.

The Supreme Court Collegium found all nine fit for appointment as judges and recommended the same.

"For the purpose of assessing the merit and suitability of the above candidates for elevation to the High Court, we have scrutinized and evaluated the material placed on record. We have also perused the observations made by the Department of Justice in the file," the resolutions passed by the Supreme Court Collegium stated.

The Bombay High Court is currently functioning with 66 judges as against its sanctioned strength of 94.

[Read Resolutions]