Centre Notifies Advocate's Appointment As Allahabad High Court Judge 27 Months After SC Collegium Recommendation

The Central Government on Monday (September 1, 2025) notified the appointment of Advocate Arun Kumar as a judge of the Allahabad High Court, nearly 27 months after the Supreme Court Collegium had recommended his name.

The Collegium had first proposed his elevation on May 9, 2023, but the file remained pending with the government for over two years before it finally received approval.

The long gap in notifying Advocate Arun Kumar's appointment is not an isolated case. The Supreme Court has repeatedly expressed concern over the Union Government's delays in acting on Collegium recommendations, some pending since as far back as 2019, despite reiteration in 2021 and 2022.

In a hearing on July 24, 2025, CJI BR Gavai had orally said that the Collegium was pursuing the issue on its administrative side.

CJI had made this statement when Senior Advocate Arvind Datar and Advocate Prashant Bhushan jointly mentioned the petitions seeking directions to the Union Government to act on Collegium recommendations in a time-bound manner. They argue that such delays cause advocates recommended for judgeship to lose seniority and even withdraw consent.

It may be noted that Advocates Rajesh Datar and Shwetashree Majumdar recently withdrew their consent for judgeship in Bombay and Delhi High Courts, respectively, due to the delay in notifying their appointments on the part of the Union Government.

Also read : Collegium's Actions Raise Doubts On Its Claim Of Protecting Judicial Independence