Judiciary Watch: Justice Bhosale appointed Acting CJ of AP & Telangana

Even as appointments to the higher judiciary remain in a state of limbo, Justice DB Bhosale has been appointed as the acting Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad. The appointment, made by the President under Article 223 of the Constitution, was borne out of necessity after the retirement of Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta on May 6..As the collegium system remains suspended after the Central Government notified the NJAC Act on April 13, appointments to the higher judiciary have come to a standstill. To complicate matters further, Chief Justice of India HL Dattu last month refused to part of the proceedings to select the two eminent persons of the NJAC. A spate of appointments and transfers were made just before the NJAC was notified, perhaps to make up for the lack of appointments until the ongoing NJAC matter is resolved in the Supreme Court..Without a functioning NJAC to appoint Chief Justices of high courts, the only alternative is for the President to appoint acting Chief Justices under Article 223. Five high courts currently have Acting Chief Justices, with two of them due to retire this year. Gujarat’s Acting Chief Justice, Justice VM Sahai is due to retire in August..If the Supreme Court does constitute an 11-judge Bench to hear the NJAC appeal, as argued by AG Mukul Rohatgi today, these five High Courts may have to wait for a while to see a Chief Justice..Given below is a list of Chief Justices and senior-most judges who shall be retiring this year..Image taken from here.