sc collegium

In a meeting on Monday, the collegium approved three different proposals for appointment of judges presented by the state govt to the Union law minister and forwarded to the collegium.

Justice Yashwant Varma resigned, avoiding a parliamentary removal debate. His resignation follows a probe into a large cash discovery at his official residence. An inquiry committee corroborated the findings and the subsequent mysterious disappearance of the money. This incident intensified discussions on judicial integrity and judge appointments.

Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan highlighted a stark gender disparity in higher judicial appointments, noting women excel in lower judicial services but are underrepresented in High Courts and the Supreme Court due to subjective collegium criteria. He stressed the need for greater gender parity for India to achieve developed nation status by 2047.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Mishra repeatedly asked senior advocate Arvind Datar, whether the two district judges, Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra, were completely ignored by the HC collegium while recommending names of judicial officers’ junior to them for appointment as HC judges. Datar said non-consideration of Singh and Malhotra, despite Jan 4 sc collegium resolution asking for reconsideration by HC collegium, resulted in ignoring their merit, seniority, and unblemished judicial track record.

Two senior-most district judges in New Delhi have taken their grievances to the Supreme Court, alleging that the Himachal Pradesh HC collegium overlooked their merit and seniority in the selection process of judges. The issue highlights concerns about the adherence to the Supreme Court-devised process for selecting High Court judges.

On October 31, the sc collegium recommended the names of Justices Hemant Gupta, MR Shah, R Subhash Reddy and Ajay Rastogi for appointment as SC judges. The sc collegium recommended the appointment of SC secretary general Ravindra Maithani, a senior judicial officer from Uttarakhand, as a judge of the state HC.

The Jharkhand government has moved the Supreme Court for contempt action against the Centre due to delays in appointing Justice M S Ramachandra Rao as Chief Justice. Despite a recommendation from the sc collegium on July 11, the position has been vacant since July 19, prompting legal action from Jharkhand.

Minister of state for law P P Chaudhary told the Lok Sabha that out of the 77 proposals submitted by the sc collegium, the government appointed 34 judges in various high courts and sent 43 back to the collegium for reconsideration.

In December 2018, Calcutta HC Chief Justice and his two most senior colleagues had recommended nine names to the sc collegium.

In February this year, the Allahabad HC collegium had recommended 33 advocates for their elevation as judges. However, when the Centre carried out background checks, it found faults ranging from competence to credibility in at least 50 per cent of the cases. The sc collegium too, finally found only 17 of the 33 names fit for judgeship.

Amid the ongoing tussle between the government and the Supreme Court, each holding the other responsible for delay in appointment of judges of high courts, the Union law ministry has told the parliamentary standing committee on law and justice that 30% of names recommended by HC collegiums are rejected by the sc collegium.

While the larger collegium comprising CJI Gogoi and Justices Madan B Lokur, Kurian Joseph, AK Sikri and SA Bobde recommended appointment of judges to the apex court, the collegium of three - CJI Gogoi and Justices Lokur and Joseph - dealt with high court recommendations for appointment of HC judges from among advocates and judicial officers.

Centre defies the prescribed timelines for judges’ appointments, sc collegium also falters

The Centre on Friday said it strictly went by the memorandum of procedure (MoP) for appointment of judges finalised by the sc collegium and the 1998 apex court judgment to seek reconsideration of the proposal to appoint Uttarakhand Chief Justice K M Joseph as an SC judge.