Yesterday, the Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud recommended the appointment of chief justices of five high courts. The five high courts for which the Collegium, proposed new chief justices are: Madras HC, Kerala HC, Bombay HC, Himachal Pradesh HC and Rajasthan High Court.

During the meeting which was geld yesterday, Collegium recommended the name of Justice RD Dhanuka as the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. The Collegium resolution stated that Justice Dhanuka served the High Court with distinction since his appointment.

"Over the last 11 years, he has acquired sufficient experience on the judicial and administrative side as a puisne judge of the High Court. In view of the fact that Justice Dhanuka has a short tenure as noted above, in terms of the Memorandum of Procedure, the Collegium resolves to recommend his appointment as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Bombay. In terms of the procedure, consultation has been held with the consultee-Judge/s with a view to ascertaining his suitability for appointment as the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. The consultee-judge/s have concurred with the proposed appointment" the resolution stated.

Justice SV Bhatti, senior most judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, was recommended for the appointment as Chief Justice of Kerala High Court.

"Collegium is of the considered view that Justice S V Bhatti is fit and suitable in all respects to be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Kerala," the resolution stated.

The Collegium recommended the appointment of Punjab and Haryana High Court judge, Justice Augustine George Masih, as the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court.

The vacancy arose consequent to the elevation of the earlier Chief Justice, Justice Pankaj Mithal from the Haryana High Court to the Supreme Court.

Further, the Collegium recommended the name of Justice MS Ramachandra Rao, the senior-most judge of the Telangana High Court, to become the Chief Justice of Himachal High Court.

The Collegium also proposed the appointment of Justice SV Gangapurwala as the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.