Collegium to meet today on Justice Joseph elevation

NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra has called a meeting of the Supreme court collegium on Friday afternoon to decide on the names of high court judges for elevation to the top court, including that of Uttarakhand chief justice KM Joseph, whose nomination has been spurned by the government.

This move comes in the wake of a letter written by justice Jasti Chelameswar to the CJI to convene a meeting of the collegium, which comprises the five seniormost judges of the Supreme Court and decides on appointments to the higher judiciary. Chelameswar said the collegium should reiterate its recommendation to the government that Justice Joseph be elevated to the top court.

The collegium comprises the CJI, and Justices Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurien Joseph. On May 2, the collegium met to reconsider Joseph’s elevation to the Supreme Court. The names of three more judges — from the Calcutta high court, Andhra & Telangana high court and Rajasthan high court — too were discussed. But no decision was taken at the meeting.

It was decided at the May 2 meeting that the collegium would meet a week later and take a call on the four names.

Justice Joseph’s elevation to the top court has been a bone of contention between the government and the collegium, which found im to be a meritorious and eminently suitable candidate for appointment to the Supreme court; it recommended his name as early as on January 10 to the government.

But the government, after sitting on the recommendation for over three months, returned the name of justice Joseph, calling the proposed appointment ‘not appropriate’ and unfair and unjustified to other chief justices and judges of high courts in line for elevation to the top court.