Key Points
Centre appoints 4 judges for Rajasthan HC
SC recommended 7, Centre confirms 4
Advocates Taneja, Sandhu, Mirdha awaiting elevation
SC criticized Centre's selective appointments
"In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 217 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint S/Shri (i) Anand Sharma, (ii) Sunil Beniwal, (iii) Mukesh Rajpurohit and (iv) Sandeep Shah to be Judges of the Rajasthan High Court, in that order of seniority, with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices,” said a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice.
In its meeting held on March 5, the SC Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, recommended the appointment of 7 advocates as judges of the Rajasthan High Court.
"The Supreme Court Collegium in its meeting held on 05th March, 2025 has approved the proposal for appointment of the following Advocates, as Judges of the Rajasthan High Court: (i) Shri Anand Sharma, (ii) Shri Sunil Beniwal, (iii) Shri Sandeep Taneja, (iv) Shri Mukesh Rajpurohit, (v) Shri Sandeep Shah, (vi) Shri Baljinder Singh Sandhu, and (vii) Ms. Sheetal Mirdha,” said a statement uploaded on the website of the apex court.
The proposal to elevate advocates Taneja, Sandhu, and Mirdha is yet to be acted upon by the Centre.
Earlier in the day, the Union government notified the appointment of three permanent judges to the Punjab and Haryana High Court and extended the term of three additional judges of the Chhattisgarh High Court for a year following the recommendations made by the apex court Collegium.
In November 2023, the Supreme Court had remarked that the Centre's selective 'pick and choose' approach in appointments of judges to the higher judiciary "doesn’t send a good signal".
A bench headed by Justice S.K. Kaul (now retired) had said that if a candidate did not know what seniority they would have on becoming a judge, it became difficult to persuade other eligible and deserving candidates.
Earlier, the top court had warned the Centre of "an unpalatable order" if it delayed and continued to have the selective 'pick and choose' approach in notifying the appointment or transfer of judges after recommendations were forwarded by the SC Collegium. It had said that selective appointments as the delays create huge anomalies in the system and disturb inter-se seniority.
