Supreme Court Collegium recommends appointment of three new judges to Madhya Pradesh High Court

The Supreme Court Collegium on Tuesday recommended the names of one judicial officer and two advocates for appointment as judges of the Madhya Pradesh High Court..As per the resolution uploaded on the official website of the Supreme Court, the following names have been proposed for elevation: - Advocates Deepak Khot;- Advocate Pavan Kumar Dwivedi;- Judicial Officer Ramkumar Choubey..With regard to judicial officer Choubey, the resolution noted that the Madhya Pradesh High Court Collegium had on May 11 and October 17 last year recommended his name. The Collegium had subsequently scrutinised and evaluated the material on record, and at the time deferred the proposal in light of the Union Department of Justice's (DoJ) inputs. The Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court once again forwarded the name to the apex court collegium on December 30.The top court collegium then sought the views of Supreme Court judges conversant with the affairs of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh to assess the fitness and suitability of the candidate. Both the judges consulted gave a positive opinion.The State Chief Minister and the Governor also concurred with the recommendation. "The enquiries made by us with reliable sources to ascertain suitability of the candidate reveal that Shri Ramkumar Choubey is a competent officer suitable for elevation to the High Court. His service record shows that he has mostly been rated as a Very Good/Excellent officer. The Judgment Evaluation Committee constituted by the Chief Justice of the High Court has graded the quality of judgments authored by him as Good/Excellent," the Collegium further noted..With respect to advocates Khot and Dwivedi, the High Court Collegium had recommended their elevation on November 11, 2022. On October 17, 2023, the apex court collegium went through the material on record, and deferred the proposals in light of the DoJ's inputs.Later, in the same meeting held by the High Court Collegium to reiterate the name of the judicial officer, it also reiterated the names of the two advocates. The Chief Justice of the High Court then wrote to the top court Collegium on December 30, 2023. The Supreme Court Collegium proceeded to recommend the name of the two lawyers. "While recommending the names of the above advocates the Collegium of the High Court had duly considered their professional competence and after finding them professionally competent, recommended their names. As regards the integrity of the two Advocates, the inputs provided by Government are unconfirmed based on discreet enquiries and without giving specific material or information," the Supreme Court Collegium's resolution noted..The resolution also took note of the pending appointment of advocates Ashish Shroti and Amit Seth, whose names had been proposed by the Collegium earlier, in October 2023. In view of the same, the Collegium added,"The Collegium further resolves to recommend that the inter se seniority of the above Advocates vis-à-vis Shri Deepak Khot and Shri Pavan Kumar Dwivedi@ Pavan Dwivedi (who were recommended on January 9, 2024) be fixed as per the existing practice.".The Supreme Court Collegium, accordingly, has recommended three names for elevation as Madhya Pradesh High Court judges..[Read resolutions]