The government has returned the names of advocates Wasim Sadiq Nargal and Nazir Ahmed Beig but is yet to offer a reason for its rejection.
New Delhi: There appears to be no let-up in the Narendra Modi government’s rejection of names recommended for the higher judiciary by the Supreme Court collegium. This time, the Centre has returned the names of two lawyers who were to be appointed as judges of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
Sources in the J&K High Court told ThePrint that the Centre’s latest communication, sent last week, clearly indicates that of the four names — three lawyers and one judicial officer — recommended for the high court, the Centre has decided to appoint only two.
Sources said the Centre is planning to issue warrants of appointments for advocate Sindhu Sharma and district and sessions judge Rashid Ali Dar. It has returned the names of advocates Wasim Sadiq Nargal and Nazir Ahmed Beig.
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The four were part of five names that the state high court collegium had recommended for elevation on 24 August, 2017, but the Supreme Court collegium, on 6 April this year, had deferred the proposal to elevate one of the candidates — Showkat Ahmad Makroo.
After holding interactions with all the remaining candidates and also considering all the material on record, the SC collegium had decided on these four names. It remains to be seen what excuse the government has given this time to reject the names cleared by the collegium.
Not for the first time
The latest rejection comes in the backdrop of the Supreme Court collegium buckling under government pressure and recommending that Calcutta High Court judge Aniruddha Bose be appointed as the Jharkhand chief justice. He was initially recommended for the Delhi High Court.
ThePrint had first reported that the Modi government returned Justice Bose’s name on the flimsy ground that he had no experience as chief justice to handle a prominent high court. Justice Bose has been a judge in Calcutta High Court since 2004.
In another case, the Centre rejected the names of two lawyers recommended by the collegium after sitting on them for over two years. In this instance, the government had no credible reason to reject the names of Harnaresh Singh Gill and Mohammed Nizamuddin.
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