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The Opposition has contested the Centre’s justifications for rejecting the Supreme Court collegium’s recommendation to promote Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice KM Joseph to the apex court. While the Congress alleged that the BJP wants to fill high courts with “their people”, the Left parties said there is an unwanted intrusion in the procedures to find judges for the higher courts.
Senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal said the Centre is not serious about ensuring justice to common people. He said out of the total 1,079 posts available in higher courts, 410 are yet to be filled up.
“The loss is for the common people. If you are not appointing judges, litigants are going to suffer. Some cases are taking 20 years. The pendency is huge,” said the former Law Minister.
“Indian judiciary is in danger. And if our judiciary is not united to protect its independence then democracy is in danger.... they want to pack high courts with their own people,” he added.
Sibal also questioned the Centre’s stand that Joseph is junior. “He is the senior most and the collegium says he is the best. They don’t like Justice Joseph, but why? People of India will know why they don’t like Justice Joseph,” he said, adding that seniority was never a parameter in appointing judges.
The Congress leader further said the Centre “sat” on the collegium’s recommendation for long. “You don’t agree, you should send the file back and give reasons.At the moment the strength of the Supreme Court is 31, the total number of judges in the court is 24; there are seven vacancies. That means there is an urgent need to appoint judges,” he said. With six judges retiring this year, the issue is all the more urgent, he pointed out.
The CPI(M) said the Centre’s decision is an unwarranted intrusion into the selection process. “The President of India must immediately intervene to ensure that the laid out procedure is followed and the appointment of Justice Joseph is cleared,” the party’s Politburo said in a statement.
Former MP Sharad Yadav told reports: “It is a very serious matter and I will request the apex court judges to come forward and ensure that the people’s faith in the judiciary remains intact. This shows that the government is interfering in the matters of the judiciary and all constitutional institutions in a big way.”
PTI reports: The Congress today alleged an RSS hand in a petition in the Supreme Court pertaining to judge BH Loya’s death, and said it was “politically motivated”.
‘RSS hand in PIL’
It cited the case of Suraj Lolage, who filed a PIL in the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court last year relating to the circumstances in which judge Loya died.
Sibal alleged that Lolage was an RSS and BJP worker and gave records of his conversations with the brother of RTI activist Satish Uke.
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