SC rejects govt objections to 43 judge nominees

In a move that is bound to escalate into a confrontation between the judiciary and the executive, the Supreme Court has refused to accept the government’s rejection of 43 names of the 77 it had sent for appointments in high courts.

Chief Justice of India T. S. Thakur, who heads the Supreme Court collegium, informed attorney general Mukul Rohatgi on Friday that the collegium has reiterated the names of all the 43 judges for high courts which were returned by the law ministry for reconsideration.

The CJI, sitting with Justice Anil R. Dave, told the AG, “We met recently and we are reiterating all the names. The appointment may be made. We will give you three weeks.” The bench posted the matter for January, but by then CJI Thakur may retire. His retirement date is January 3, 2017.

Under the memorandum of procedure (MoP) relating to appointment of judges, if the collegium reiterates the names for the second time, the Centre is bound to accept them and forward to the President for appointment. The new MoP is pending consideration with the apex court as it has refused to accept the government’s condition to have “veto power” on appointments if the person recommended for judgeship is a “threat to national security”.

The recommendations were made by various high courts as early as January and February this year. The apex court collegium’s insistence on appointing the 43 is bound to result in confrontation and there is a possibility of the government sitting over the names and putting them in cold storage as there is no set time limit for forwarding the names to the President.

The Bench was hearing a

PIL filed by Lt. Colonel (retd) Anil Kabotra and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyaya highlighting the problems of pendency of cases in various High Courts and the inordinate delay in appointing judges to fill the vacancies.

In the last hearing Centre had informed the CJI that not a single file is pending with the government; of the 77 names recommended we have appointed 34 persons and we have returned 43 names for your consideration. He also said that the draft MOP is pending with the collegium since August 3.

Pending finalisation of MoP, the centre has cleared 311 names for appointment as judges.