Central government clears appointment of 3 lawyers as Andhra Pradesh High Court judges

The Central government on Thursday cleared the names of three advocates for appointment as judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

Union Minister of State for Law (independent charge) Arjun Ram Meghwal tweeted about appointment on his official X handle.

The lawyers who have been appointed as judge are:

- Maheswara Rao Kuncheam @ Kuncham;

- Thoota Chandra Dhana Sekar @ TCD Sekhar;

- Challa Gunaranjan.

The Supreme Court Collegium had on October 15 recommended the names of the three lawyers.

As per the Collegium resolution, on May 15, 2024, the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh 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.

"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 resolution passed by the Supreme Court Collegium had stated.

Regarding Kuncheam and Gunaranjan the resolution had stated that all the four consultee-Judges have given a positive opinion on the suitability of their appointment.

With regard to Sekar, the resolution had said that one of the four consultee judges was of the opinion that Sekar did not particularly stand out and was at best a mediocre in terms of his performance.

The Collegium also noted that Sekar belong to a backward class, and therefore considering the overall facts and circumstances, it proceeded in recommending Sekar as judge of the High Court.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court is currently functioning with 26 judges as against a sanctioned strength of 37.