Collegium

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.

A second person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to Hindustan Times that so far the collegium had not decided whether to return the name of justice Joseph to the government for elevation. But there is a general view among the judges that his name needs to be reiterated as available facts and figures suggest that he is the “most meritorious” j udge among t he present lot of judges.

Apart from justice Joseph’s case, the collegium next week is likely to consider the names of justice Indira Banerjee, who hails from the Calcutta high court and is presently the chief justice of Madras high court; justice R.subhash Reddy, who is from Telangana and is presently Gujarat high court chief justice; and justice Dinesh Maheshwari, who hails from Rajasthan and is chief justice of the Karnataka high court

After putting on hold justice Joseph’s elevation, law minister wrote to the CJI that it would “not be fair and justified to other more senior, suitable, and deserving chief justices and senior judges of various high courts.”

The collegium, which is headed by the CJI, comprises justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurien Joseph.

A number of Supreme Court lawyers urged the top court to put on hold Malhotra’s appointment and direct the government to clear Joseph’s name — a request that was rejected by a bench led by the chief justice Misra. The bench said the government is within its rights to send back a name for reconsideration.

A petition was filed by senior lawyer Indira Jaising, which said appointments have now become a matter concerning the “independence of judiciary”.

Jaising told the court that the government was stalling justice Joseph’s elevation because as chief justice of the Uttarakhand high court, he had quashed the imposition of President’s rule in