It was reported earlier that the Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the appointment of Hon’ble Mr. Justice A.A Kureshi as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
“Having regard to all relevant factors, the Collegium is of the considered view that Mr. Justice A.A Kureshi is suitable in all respects for being appointed as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court,” the Collegium had stated in the resolution dated 10th May 2019.
However, according to a press report in the Hindu, the Government has acted in defiance of this resolution and appointed Justice Ravi Shanker Jha as the Acting Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
“The government on Friday appointed Justice Ravi Shanker Jha as the Acting Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court even as there is no word from the Centre on a May 10 Supreme Court Collegium recommendation to appoint Justice A.A. Kureshi as the Chief Justice of the High Court,” the report states.
The report also points out that this is not the first time that Justice Kureshi’s appointment has been embroiled in controversy.
It is stated that when the office of Chief Justice to the Gujarat High Court fell vacant some months back due to the elevation of Justice Subhash Reddy to the Supreme Court, Justice Kureshi, as the then next senior most judge in the Gujarat High Court, was expected to take over the office.
Instead, he was faced with an abrupt transfer to the Bombay High Court and Justice A.S. Dave, the senior most judge after Justice Kureshi, was appointed the Acting Chief Justice — all on the same day.
However, the government had then quickly changed tack to issue a second notification appointing Justice Kureshi as Acting Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court until he took over office in the Bombay High Court.
It is stated that the controversy had raised questions about the way Justice Kureshi was dealt with by the government, and whether this had anything to do with adverse orders passed by him against the ruling dispensation.
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