NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court collegium on Wednesday recommended to the Centre the appointment of Chief Justices of four HCs, two of whom would retire on February 22 and April 19 and could have very short tenures given the recent sharp exchange of words between the government and the court over chronic delays in giving effect to the collegium proposals.In a decision that could revive a dormant controversy, the collegium of CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph recommended appointment of Punjab and Haryana HC’s Justice Sabina, who retires on April 19, as CJ of Himachal HC.

Justice Sabina’s daughter Kalyani Singh was held in 2022 by the CBI in the murder of ex-national-level shooter and advocate Sukhmanpreet S Sidhu on Sept 20, 2015.Kalyani is at present on bail.

The collegium also recommended appointment of Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh of Jharkhand HC as Chief Justice of Tripura HC.

The Collegium said he would succeed Justice Jaswant Singh (parent HC Punjab and Haryana, and at present most senior judge in Orissa HC) who is yet to be appointed as CJ of Tripura.