Collegium defers Joseph decision

Court may send more names next week

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court collegium on Wednesday unanimously agreed to defer by a week a decision on whether to recommend the name of Uttarakhand chief justice KM Joseph once again for elevation to the top court, after Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra suggested that the names of more judges be considered.

A person privy to the collegium proceedings said Wednesday’s meeting lasted about 50 minutes. CJI Misra was of the view that judges from the high courts of Rajasthan, Calcutta and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana should be considered along with the proposal to elevate Justice Joseph, the person said on condition of anonymity.

Members of the collegium, which comprises the five seniormost Supreme Court judges and decides on appointments to the higher judiciary, then deferred the decision on the elevation of Justice Joseph.

Three of the others said they needed time to respond to other names proposed by the CJI and also to decide if a consolidated list of the four names should be sent to the government or just the name of Justice Joseph. Last week, the government cleared the appointment of senior advocate to the Supreme Court as a judge of the top court, but put on hold the collegium’s recommendation to elevate Joseph.

Four of the five collegium members were also for the first time informed on Wednesday of a letter written by law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to the CJI on April 30 wherein he reiterated the government position that the principle of seniority must be followed in the elevation of judges to the top court.

The letter pointed out that justice Joseph is 42nd in seniority among the high court judges and many HCS such as Gujarat, Calcutta and Jammu and Kashmir are not represented in the apex court.