The Delhi High Court bench took the unusual step of withdrawing the name of the lawyer recommended for the post of judge after the proposal had already been formally sent to the Supreme Court bench, the Union government and the Delhi government, in what is seen as a rare mid-course correction in the process of judicial appointments.
The move marks an unprecedented shift in the Delhi High Court’s ongoing practice of upgrading lawyers from the Bar, the first such recommendations initiated under Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and the first of a large batch of names referred by the court in more than a year.
The three-member bench, comprising Chief Justice Upadhyaya and Justices Kameswar Rao and Nitin W Sambar, in the last week of May, approved seven names for appointment as judges of the Supreme Court, people aware of the developments said.
The original list included the names of lawyers Sameer Vashist, Sandeep Mahapatra, Sandeep Sharma, Ravi Prakash, Amit Prasad, Kadambri Singh and Prachi Mishra. The recommendations were then sent to the constitutional advisors, including the Supreme Court bench, the Union Law Ministry, and the Delhi government.
However, in a new letter sent earlier this week, the college has withdrawn the recommendation of advocate Prachi Mishra and has simultaneously expanded the list by adding two names, senior advocate Aseem Chawla and advocate Gitanjali Malviya Ojha.
The revised list now contains eight names.
This development is important because once a Supreme Court Council recommendation enters the consultative process, withdrawal of an individual’s name becomes uncommon. Typically, recommendations are processed as a single collective decision and any substantive reconsideration may require the Supreme Court bench to reconsider the exercise anew.
What makes the current case noteworthy is that the panel appears to have retained the remaining recommendations while dropping one candidate and putting forward two new names through a subsequent communication.
It was not immediately possible to confirm the reasons behind withdrawing Mishra’s name.
This is certainly the first judicial appointment made by Chief Justice Upadhyaya since his transfer from the Bombay High Court earlier this year. The last lawyer to be appointed as a judge of the Delhi High Court was Justice Tejas Karia in February 2025.
Among the names recommended, Amit Prasad is widely known to have served as special public prosecutor in the larger Delhi riots conspiracy case. Senior advocates Kadambri Singh and Ravi Prakash practice in civil matters, while senior advocate Sandeep Sharma has extensive experience in arbitration. Sameer Vashist and Sandeep Mahapatra were legal advisors to the Delhi and Central governments, respectively.
Among the two new names, Asim Chawla is a senior lawyer with extensive experience in tax, commercial and regulatory law. Geetanjali Malviya Ojha has a civil practice.
The recommendations will be examined by a Supreme Court panel headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant after receiving the Intelligence Bureau reports, before being sent to the Union government for final appointments. The Delhi High Court currently has 44 judges as against 60 judges.
