The Supreme Court has directed the collegium of the Himachal Pradesh High Court to reconsider the elevation of two senior-most district and sessions judges as high court judges. The Supreme Court clarified that the Chief Justice of the High Court cannot independently reconsider a recommendation; it must be done collectively by the high court collegium.

A bench comprising Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra ruled on a plea filed by the two judges, Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra. The judges argued that their merit and seniority were not adequately considered by the high court collegium in the process of selecting names for elevation to the high court. The Supreme Court noted a lack of collective consultation and deliberation by the high court collegium members.

Consequently, the Supreme Court ordered the Himachal Pradesh High Court collegium to re-evaluate the names of the two judicial officers in accordance with a previous decision by the Supreme Court collegium dated January 4, 2024.

During the hearing, the petitioners' counsel referred to this Supreme Court collegium resolution and a subsequent communication from the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, emphasizing that the petitioners' names should have been considered for elevation by the high court collegium.