india

Updated: Jan 11, 2019 23:34 IST

The Supreme Court collegium has cleared the names of Chief Justice of Karnataka high court Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Sanjiv Khanna of the Delhi high court for appointment as judges of the Supreme Court.

According to the resolution posted on the SC website, while recommending the names of justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna, the collegium has taken into consideration combined seniority on all-India basis of chief justices and senior puisne judges of high courts, apart from their merit and integrity.

The collegium has also kept in mind the desirability of giving due representation on the bench of the Supreme Court, as far as possible, to all the high courts.

What is significant is that last year Justice J Chelameswar had criticised the chief justice of the Karnataka HC for initiating an inquiry against a district judge, who was cleared for elevation by the collegium, allegedly at the Centre’s behest, and suggested that he was “more loyal than the king”.

In a letter dated March 21, sent to then CJI Dipak Misra with copies to all the judges of the Supreme Court, Chelameswar also questioned why the Karnataka HC chief justice Dinesh Maheshwari did not inform the CJI about the probe.