Comments
The Supreme Court Collegium led by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur refused to accept the government’s rejection of 43 names it handpicked for judicial appointments in various High Courts.
The Supreme Court informed the government on Friday that it had reiterated every one of the 43 names that was sent back by the Centre to the Collegium for reconsideration. The Collegium had met on November 15.
“We (Collegium) met. We have reiterated all the 43 names sent back to us,” Chief Justice of India TS Thakur informed Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi on Friday.
The government is now on a sticky wicket as the new Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) is yet to be finalised. The prevalent procedure is that once the Collegium has reiterated its recommendations, as in this case, the government is bound to clear the names for appointment as judges.
The government had returned 43 out of a total 77 names recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium. The appointments of the remaining 34 names have already been made by the government.
The recommendations are for various High Courts, including Allahabad, Karnataka and Madras High Courts.
Chief Justice Thakur had recently asked the Centre to send back any names recommended by the Collegium in case of a difference of opinion. It was said this was better than keeping the entire process of judicial appointments hanging.
The court, however, did not mention any progress in the stalemate over the latest draft MoP, which was referred to the Collegium by the government on August 3.
“The last communication on the MoP was on August 3... since then there has been no reply from the Collegium,” Rohatgi had submitted in the previous hearing.
The government’s submissions had come in the background of a tongue-lashing it received from the Chief Justice, who accused the government of trying to choke justice by not appointing judges and locking courtrooms en masse.
Chief Justice Thakur had accused the government of trying to “decimate the judiciary and lock justice out”.
The Centre had returned 43 out of a total 77 names recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium. The appointments of the remaining 34 have already been made by the government
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.