Justice Kotiswar may be first Supreme Court judge from Manipur

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, July 11

The Supreme Court Collegium led by CJI DY Chandrachud on Thursday recommended the appointment of Chief Justice of the High Court for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Madras High Court Acting Chief Justice R Mahadevan as judges of the top court.

Justice Singh, who has been the Chief Justice of the High Court for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh since February 2023, will be the first judge from Manipur to be elevated to the Supreme Court.

“His appointment will provide representation to the North-East, and in particular he will be the first judge from Manipur to be appointed as a judge of the SC,” the Collegium resolution read. With regard to the elevation of Justice Mahadevan, who has been serving as the Acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court since May 2024, the Collegium noted he belonged to a backward community from Tamil Nadu and his appointment would bring diversity to the Bench.

“The Collegium has taken due note of the fact that Justice R Mahadevan ranks third in the order of presently serving judges of the Madras High Court, including the judges who have been posted as Chief Justices outside the Madras HC. At this stage, the Collegium has given precedence to the candidature of Justice Mahadevan in order to give representation to the backward community,” the Collegium resolution read.

If the Collegium’s recommendations are accepted by the Centre and these two appointments are notified, it will take the SC’s actual strength to 34 judges, the total sanctioned strength.

Noting that Justice Singh had an “impeccable record” — both on judicial and administrative sides — as the Chief Justice of the High Court for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Collegium said he was “eminently suitable for being appointed as a judge of the SC” in terms of “his judicial performance, administrative acumen, integrity and merit”.

Born on March 1, 1963, at Imphal to (Late) Justice N Ibotombi Singh of the Gauhati High Court, who was also the first Advocate General of Manipur, Justice Singh obtained his law degree from Campus Law Centre of DU in 1986 and got enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi. Later, he got it transferred to the roll of the Bar Council of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. He was appointed as a judge of the Gauhati High Court on October 17, 2011, and transferred to the Manipur HC after its creation in 2013. He was again transferred to the Gauhati HC on October 11, 2018, and appointed Chief Justice of the High Court for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in February 2023.

“Being conversant with the work of Justice Mahadevan on the judicial side… the Collegium is of the view that he is eminently suitable for appointment as a judge of the SC,” the resolution stated. Having completed the LLB from Madras Law College, he got enrolled as an advocate in 1989 and practised on the civil, criminal and writ sides with specialisation in indirect taxes, customs and central excise matters for 25 years.