SC collegium recommends names of judicial officer, two advocates as Madhya Pradesh HC judges

New Delhi: The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on Tuesday recommended the name of judicial officer Ramkumar Choubey for appointment as Judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, recommended the names of advocates Deepak Khot and Pavan Kumar Dwivedi for appointment as Judges of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh.

On the name of judicial officer Ramkumar Choubey, the collegium said it has scrutinised and evaluated the material placed on record.

"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". Both the consultee-Judges have found him suitable for elevation as Judge of the High Court. The collegium, therefore, is of the considered view that Shri Ramkumar Choubey is fit and suitable for appointment as Judge of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh," it said.

In another decision, the collegium also recommended the elevation of advocate Pranav Shailesh Trivedi as a judge of the Gujarat High Court.

"On September 26, 2022 the collegium of the High Court of Gujarat unanimously recommended, inter alia, that Shri Pranav Shailesh Trivedi be appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Gujarat.

"The Chief Minister and the Governor of the State of Gujarat concurred with the above recommendation. On March 2, 2023, the Supreme Court collegium recommended that the proposal for the elevation of Shri Pranav Shailesh Trivedi be returned to the Chief Justice of the High Court of Gujarat for being considered at the appropriate stage," the collegium said.

It said the Department of Justice has referred back the file for positive consideration of the above proposal.

"We have reconsidered our earlier recommendation dated March 2, 2023 in light of the reasons recorded by the Department of Justice in the file. We made further enquiries to come to a definite conclusion as to his suitability. The candidate was enrolled with the State Bar Council in the year 2000 and has put in 23 years of practice at the High Court of Gujarat.

"His area of practice includes taxation, civil, criminal, constitutional, labour, company and service cases. He is specialized in taxation and criminal law. He qualifies in terms of age and income criteria and has a well-established practice. He has appeared in cases resulting in 68 reported judgments in matters argued by him," the collegium said.

The collegium endorsed the observations made in the file by the Department of Justice while referring back the above proposal for positive consideration and said it was of the considered view that Trivedi is fit and suitable for being elevated as a Judge of the High Court of Gujarat.

"In view of the above, the collegium resolves to recommend that Shri Pranav Shailesh Trivedi, Advocate, be appointed as Judge of the High Court of Gujarat. The recommendation made by the Collegium on March 2, 2023 is accordingly recalled," it said.