Agartala, October 11, 2023: The Supreme Court Collegium, in a resolution dated October 10, has recommended the appointment of two judicial officers as judges for the Tripura High Court. The official resolution was made publicly available online, where it identified Biswajit Palit and Sabyasachi Datta Purkayastha as suitable candidates for this role.
In its decision, the Supreme Court Collegium acknowledged that it did not recommend certain other more senior judicial officers for the position of High Court judges, citing cogent reasons for their omission. The resolution stated, “While considering the above proposal, we have also taken note of the fact that the above proposal involves non-recommendation of senior judicial officers. Cogent reasons have been recorded by the Collegium of the High Court for not recommending their names. We are, therefore, in agreement with the Collegium of the High Court for not recommending them.”
It’s important to note that the High Court Collegium initially recommended the names of judicial officers Palit and Purkayastha in December 2021. However, the Chief Minister and Governor of Tripura did not respond to the proposal for over six weeks. Consequently, the proposals were forwarded to the Supreme Court Collegium without awaiting their inputs.
The Supreme Court Collegium, in its resolution, explained the decision to proceed without the comments of the State’s constitutional authorities by invoking para 14 of the Memorandum of Procedure. This provision allows the Minister of Law and Justice to presume that the Governor and Chief Minister have no additional input to provide after a specific timeframe elapses.
After consulting judges familiar with the Tripura High Court and considering input from the Central government, the Supreme Court Collegium has now recommended the appointment of these two judicial officers as judges for the Tripura High Court.
Biswajit Palit, currently serving as a Legal Remembrancer and Law Secretary with the State government, and Sabyasachi Datta Purkayastha, who holds the position of Director at the Tripura Judicial Academy, have been selected for the judgeship. While one consultee-judge recommended considering Purkayastha’s elevation at a later time, another consultee judge did not express a specific view.
Both candidates have received the recommendation for appointment as Tripura High Court judges, as there were no adverse reports against them in the evaluation process.