NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Collegium has refused to the accept Centre’s objection on the elevation of four advocates as judges of the Karnataka High Court and passed two resolutions recommending the appointment of 12 advocates as judges. The Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, asked the Central Government to expeditiously approve the appointments due to the acute shortage of judges in the high court.
A resolution, dated October 3, states, “As regards Savanur Vishwajith Shetty, his name has been sent back by the Department of Justice to the Collegium for reconsideration with the following observations that there is a complaint against him that he is having nexus with the underworld and land mafia which indulged in extortion.”
“The Collegium has perused the complaint in this regard levelling allegations against Savanur Vishwajith Shetty. The allegations in the complaint have not been verified at any level at any point of time. Besides, the Intelligence Bureau, in its report has, inter alia, recorded that he enjoys good personal and professional image and nothing adverse came to notice against his integrity.
“Besides, all the consultee judges have found him suitable for elevation. In view of the above, the Collegium is inclined to take the view that the allegations in the complaint on the basis of which his name has been sent back for reconsideration are not tenable,” the resolution stated.
Similar reasoning was given by the collegium while recommending other names of Maralur Indrakumar Arun, Mohammed Ghouse Shukure Kamal and Engalaguppe Seetharamaiah Indiresh, respectively.
By a separate resolution, the Collegium has also recommended the elevation of eight more lawyers as judges to the Karnataka High Court. The advocates proposed to be elevated are Neranahalli Srinivasan Sanjay Gowda, Mulimani Jyoti, Rangaswamy Nataraj, Nagendra Ramachandra Naik, Chandangoudar Hemant, Ravi Venkappa Hosmani, Pradeep Singh Yerur and Maheshan Nagaprasanna.
However, the name of one other lawyer, Tarikere Sathyanarayana Venkatesh, was remitted by the Collegium to the High Court.