Announcing the elevation of the five judges, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju he tweeted, “According to the provisions of the Constitution of India, the Honorable President of India has appointed the following Chief Justices and High Court Justices as Supreme Court Justices. I extend best wishes to all of them.”
According to the provisions of the Constitution of India, the Honorable President of India has appointed the following Chief… https://t.co/fQn8P6zeRy
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) 1675514823000
On December 13, the Collegium chaired by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had recommended the elevation of Justice Pankaj Mithal (Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court), Justice Sanjay Karol (Chief Justice, Patna High Court), Justice PV Sanjay Kumar (Chief Justice, Manipur High Court), Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah (Judge, Patna High Court) and Justice Manoj Misra (Judge, Allahabad High Court).
Delay in authorisation, SC pulls up the government
Facing some tough questions from the Supreme Court, the Center gave assurances on Friday that the Collegium’s pending recommendations for the elevation of five high court justices to the supreme court would soon be approved.
A Panel of Justices SK Kaul and AS Oka had expressed disappointment at the delay in approving recommendations for the transfer of High Court judges, calling it a “very serious problem”, and warned that any delay in this matter could lead to actions both administrative and judicial which may not be attractive.
On 31 January, in an unusual move, the Collegium recommended two other names to the Center: Chief Justice of Allahabad Rajesh Bindal and Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court Aravind Kumar for elevation to Supreme Court Justices.
While recommending the two names, the Collegium had said: “The names previously recommended by the Collegium in its resolution of December 13, 2022, will take precedence over the two names currently recommended for nomination to the Supreme Court.”
The superior court, which has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges including the CJI, currently serves 27 judges.
Attacks on the Collegium system
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has repeatedly attacked the judge appointment process and recently said that the collegium system is “unrelated” to the constitution.
“The Supreme Court in its wisdom, through a court ruling, created collegium,” Rijiju said, noting that before 1991 all judges were appointed by the government.
“Anything that is foreign to the Constitution simply because of the decision made by the courts or some judges, how do you expect the decision to be supported by the country,” he asked, adding that the Collegium system was foreign to the Constitution.
“Tell me under what provision the collegium system was prescribed,” he said.
He explained that once the Supreme Court or a high court panel sends a recommendation, the government must do due diligence. Rijiju was responding to a question about the government “sit down” on various recommendations from the Supreme Court panel at a time when cases are piling up in the courts.
(With contributions from agencies)
