SC Collegium recommends for appointment of Justice Narendar G as Uttarakhand HC CJ

New Delhi: The Supreme Collegium on Tuesday recommended for appointment of Justice Narendar G, a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Uttarakhand consequent upon the retirement of Ms Justice Ritu Bahri on October 10, 2024.

It also recommended for elevation of nine advocates as judges of the Bombay High Court and two judicial officers as judges of the Patna High Court.

Justice Narendar G was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Karnataka on January 02, 2015. He was transferred to the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on October 30, 2023.

In its resolution, the Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai noted that Justice Narendar is the senior-most judge in his parent High Court of Karnataka and belongs to the Other Backward Class. 

"Before his elevation as a Judge of the High Court, he practised before the High Court of Karnataka. He is an experienced Judge with considerable experience on the judicial and administrative sides of the High Courts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. At present the High Court of Karnataka has no representation among the Chief Justices of the High Courts," it said.

The Collegium found Justice Narendar as fit and suitable in all respects for being appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Uttarakhand.

Among other resolutions, the Collegium recommended for elevation of advocates Rajesh Sudhakar Datar, Sachin Shivajirao Deshmukh, Gautam Ashwin Ankhad, and Mahendra Madhavrao Nerlikar as judges of the High Court of Bombay.

Among these advocates, Datar was junior at the Bar of Justice Abhay S Oka, judge of the Supreme Court. Nerlikar belongs to the Scheduled Castes category.

The Collegium also recommended names of advocates Ms Nivedita Prakash Mehta, Prafulla Surendrakumar Khubalkar, Ashwin Damodar Bhobe, Rohit Wasudeo Joshi, and Advait Mahendra Sethna, for elevation as judges of the High Court of Bombay. 

In another decision, the Collegium recommended for elevation of judicial officers Shashi Bhushan Prasad Singh, and Ashok Kumar Pandey as Judges of the High Court of Judicature at Patna.