Yesterday, the Supreme Court collegium has recommended the Centre the names of four district judges for appointment as the Madras High Court Judge. Further, they told the centre to notify the names of R John Sathyan and Ramaswamy Neelakandan, whose names were given in the collegium's previous recommendations in January this year, for appointment to the high court.

The Supreme Court said the names who it has already recommended and reiterated should not be "withheld or overlooked" as any delay disturbs the seniority of candidates.

The four judges, whose names were recommended for elevation to the high court by the Supreme Court collegium for the first time, are R Sakthivel, P Dhanabal, Chinnasamy Kumparappan and K Rajasekar.

"The names which have been recommended earlier in point of time including the reiterated names ought not to be withheld or overlooked as this disturbs their seniority whereas those recommended later steal march on them. Loss of seniority of candidates recommended earlier in point of time has been noted by the collegium and is a matter of grave concern," the collegium said. 

The centre is yet to clear the names of R John Sathyan and Ramaswamy Neelakandan. During the latest communication to the centre, the Supreme Court did not reiterate these two names as reiteration is possible only if their names are returned by the centre, which has neither returned nor notified these two names.

In recommending the four new names, the Supreme Court collegium also mentioned the Intelligence Bureau's assessment of the four district court judges, after which the collegium decided they are "fit and suitable for appointment as judges of the high court", according to the collegium's communication to the centre.