Minimum income criterion for elevation as HC judges relaxed for various categories

The Supreme Court Collegium has relaxed the minimum income criterion of Rs seven lakh with respect to candidates belonging to SC, ST and OBC communities and for those working for the government as standing or panel counsels for their elevation as high court judges. The collegium, comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices A K Sikri and S A Bobde, took the decision on February 12 and the order was uploaded on the apex court's website on Friday.

It also reiterated the recommendation to elevate advocate P V Kunhikrishnan as a Kerala High Court judge. The collegium, while recommending the elevation of 10 lawyers -- Vipin Chandra Dixit, Ramanand Pandey, Shekhar Kumar Yadav, Ravi Nath Tilhari, Deepak Verma, Gautam Chaudhary, Manish Kumar, Vivek Ratan Agrawal, Samit Gopal and Alok Kumar Yadav -- as Allahabad High Court judges, noted that the net professional income of some of them was less than the prescribed minimum income limit of Rs seven lakh.

"The collegium has duly taken note of the fact that net professional income of some of the recommendees is less than the prescribed minimum income limit of Rs 7 lakh. "The collegium considers it appropriate to relax the income criterion to a reasonable extent in cases where such recommendees belong to categories of SC/ST/OBC or represent the government in their capacity as standing/panel counsel before the courts," it said. The Collegium also recommended Ali Zamin, judicial officer, to be appointed as a judge of the Allahabad High Court.