Centre notifies appointment of Bombay HC Chief Justice Dipankar Datta as Supreme Court judge
On September 26, the Supreme Court collegium, headed by former Chief Justice UU Lalit, recommended his name to the government for elevation.
The Central government on Sunday notified the appointment of Bombay High Court Chief Justice Dipankar Datta as a judge of the Supreme Court.
“In exercise of the power conferred under the Constitution of India, Justice Dipankar Datta has been appointed as judge of the Supreme Court of India,” Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Twitter.
The development came after the Supreme Court collegium, headed by former Chief Justice UU Lalit, recommended his name to the government for elevation on September 26.
Once Justice Datta takes oath, the number of judges in the Supreme Court will rise to 28 as against a sanctioned strength of 34.
In exercise of the power conferred under the Constitution of India, Justice Dipankar Datta has been appointed as Judge of the Supreme Court of India.
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) December 11, 2022
I extend my best wishes to him !
Born on February 9, 1965, Dipankar Datta is the son of former Calcutta High Court judge Salil Kumar Datta.
He enrolled as an advocate in November 1989 and represented the West Bengal government as a junior standing counsel between May 2002 to January 2004. Dipankar Datta has also worked as the counsel for the Union government.
Datta was elevated to the bench of the Calcutta High Court as a permanent judge in June 2006. In April 2020, he became the chief justice of the Bombay High Court.
Sunday’s announcement about Datta’s elevation came in the backdrop the Supreme Court criticising the Central government for not acting swiftly on the recommendations made by the collegium.
On November 11, the Supreme Court had issued a notice to the Union law secretary asking the Centre to explain delay in the appointment of judges.
A bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul pulled up the Centre over the delay while hearing a contempt petition filed last year by the Advocates Association Bengaluru against the Union law ministry not approving 11 names given by the top court’s collegium.
The judges had noted that on several occasions the government had not made judicial appointments, despite the collegium reiterating them. The court questioned whether the government’s inaction was meant to compel those considered for the judges’ posts to withdraw their consent.
The top court had said that after a collegium reiterates the names for the second time, the Centre has to issue an appointment order.
