KOLKATA: Pre-appointment formalities for the appointment of Shampa Sarkar, Ravi Krishan Kapur, and Arindam Mukherjee as Calcutta high court judges have been initiated by the Centre. The three advocates were part of the five names recommended by the Supreme Court collegium last December for appointment as judges.
The collegium, comprising of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices J Chelameswar and Ranjan Gogoi, had also recommended Sabyasachi Chaudhury and Sakya Sen's names for appointment as judges. Officials said the Centre could agree to these two names too. Calcutta High Court has a sanctioned strength of 72, but currently, only 30 judges sit on the bench. Two of the judges preside over the Port Blair circuit bench on a fortnightly basis. The Calcutta High Court Bar Association, the Bar Library Club, and the Incorporated Law Society have been on a cease-work since February 19, asking for the vacancies to be filed up.
Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi met the agitating lawyers last month, and promised to take up the issue with Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. They also sought an appointment with Prasad to urge him to fast-track the appointment of 13 more names sent by the Calcutta HC chief justice to the apex court. Bar Library Club president Jayanta Mitra said, “I will urge my colleagues to withdraw the cease-work...we will continue to flag this issue...till 50% of sanctioned posts are filled,” he said.
