Supreme Court Collegium Recommends 14 Advocates For Bombay High Court Judgeship; HC Strength To Reach 80

Mumbai: The Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on August 19 has recommended names of 14 advocates as judges of the Bombay High Court.

Names of Recommended Advocates

The Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai has recommended names of Siddheshwar Thombre, Mehroz Ashraf Khan Pathan,Ranjitsinha Bhonsale, Sandesh Patil, Shreeram Shirsat, Hiten Venegavkar, Rajnish Vyas and Raj Wakode.

In another notification uploaded on SC website, it states that the Collegium has also recommended names of advocates Nandesh Deshpande, Amit Jamsandekar, Ashish Chavan, Vaishali Patil-Jadhav, Abasaheb Shinde, and Farhan Dubash to be elevated as high court judges.

Central Agency Experience Among Appointees

Advocates Sandesh Patil, Shreeram Shirsat, Hiten Venegavkar and Ashish Chavan have represented central agencies like the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in several profile cases. Currently , Venegavkar is the chief public prosecutor at the high court.

Recent Swearing-In of Three HC Judges

Earlier in the day, three advocates Aarti Sathe, Ajit Kadethankar and Sushil Ghodeswar, were sworn as HC judges. Sathe’s recommendation was questioned by State Congress as she was spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party. The state BJP, however, had clarified that Sathe had resigned from the party.

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Bombay HC Strength on the Rise

The HC currently has a total of 66 judges, including 50 permanent and 16 additional ones. With the three judges taking oath today, the strength has gone up to 69. The sanctioned strength of the Bombay HC is 94. If appointed, the HC will have a working strength of 80 judges, the highest in all these years.