Shillong: The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the appointment of Advocate Biswadeep Bhattacharjee as a judge of the Meghalaya High Court.
Bhattacharjee is currently the Additional Advocate General of Meghalaya.
The Meghalaya High Court is currently functioning with three judges as against a sanctioned strength of four.
Bhatacharjee’s name was proposed by the Meghalaya High Court collegium on August 12, 2022.
However, the constitutional authorities of the State of Meghalaya did not give any input to the High Court collegium proposal.
Para 14 of the Memorandum of Procedure 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 that the proposal has been forwarded by the Department of Justice, Government of India, to the Supreme Court.
In order to ascertain the fitness and suitability of Bhattacharjee for elevation to the High Court, the Supreme Court collegium consulted, in terms of the Memorandum of Procedure, a Judge of the Supreme Court conversant with the affairs of the Meghalaya High Court.
“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,” the Supreme Court collegium said.
Bhattacharjee has been holding the office of Additional Advocate General of the Meghalaya government since 2018. He has a reasonably good professional income, which reflects on his practise 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 Supreme Court Collegium said in its resolution while recommending that Bhattacharjee be appointed as a judge of the Meghalaya High Court.
