Supreme Court Collegium Recommends Elevation Of Advocate Biswadeep Bhattacharjee As Meghalaya High Court judge

The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the appointment of Advocate Biswadeep Bhattacharjee as a judge of the Meghalaya High Court. He is at present the Additional Advocate General of the State.

In the resolution passed on July 12 but uploaded later, the collegium said that his name was proposed by the High Court Collegium on August 12 last year. However, no constitutional functionary in the State of Meghalaya had since given their input on the proposal.

Para 14 of the Memorandum of Procedure which provides that if the comments of the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister are not received within six weeks from the date of receipt of the proposal, it shall be presumed that the constitutional authorities in the State have nothing to add to the proposal and the proposal may accordingly be processed. Invoking this deemed consent clause, the Department of Justice, Union Ministry of Law and Justice, forwarded the proposal to the Supreme Court collegium.

The Supreme Court collegium said that it has taken inputs from a a judge of the Supreme Court conversant with the affairs of the High Court of Meghalaya. Nothing adverse was reported with regard to his personal integrity.

"The candidate has a standing of nearly thirty years at the Bar and has appeared before the High Court in a number of civil, criminal, service and constitutional cases. He was appointed as amicus curiae in two criminal appeals. He has been holding the office of Additional Advocate General of the State of Meghalaya since 2018. He has a reasonably good professional income which reflects on his practice at the Bar. The inputs provided by the Government in the file indicate that he enjoys a good personal and professional image and nothing adverse has come to notice with regard to his integrity. Besides, he has good knowledge and experience of handling civil and criminal matters under the Administration of Justice Rules applicable in the State of Meghalaya. His experience would thus be a value addition to the High Court", the Collegium stated.

Click here to read the resolution

The Meghalaya High Court is currently functioning with three judges as against a sanctioned strength of four.