The central government was advised to promote two attorneys and five judges to the Gujarat high court's bench by the Supreme Court collegium. They are Devan Desai and Moxa Thakker, both lawyers, and five judicial officers Susan Pinto, HD Suthar, JC Doshi, MR Mengdey and DA Joshi. The Gujarat HC’s collegium comprising the then chief justice and two senior-most judges had recommended these seven names in September 2022. The chief minister and the governor had also concurred with the recommendations.
Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice K M Joseph of the SC collegium stated that the SC judges who are familiar with the activities of the Gujarat HC were approached to determine the appropriateness and fitness of the attorneys and judicial officers for their elevation to the HC bench. “For the purpose of assessing the merit and suitability of the candidates for elevation to the High Court of Gujarat, we have scrutinized and evaluated the material placed on record, including the inputs furnished by the Intelligence Bureau. We have also perused the observations made by the department of justice in the file,” the collegium’s note reads.
Although the Gujarat High Court is authorised to have 52 judges, there are now only 24 judges there.