It decided that his name “should also be accompanied by the recommendation of the names of chief justices of high courts for elevation” to the Supreme Court.
New Delhi: Over a week after it failed to forge a consensus, the Supreme Court collegium Friday unanimously decided to reiterate its recommendation to elevate Uttarakhand High Court chief justice K.M. Joseph to the apex court.
However, the collegium will also recommend names of some other senior high court chief justices with Joseph.
“The Chief Justice and other members of the collegium have, on principle, unanimously agreed that the recommendation for appointment of Mr Justice K.M. Joseph, chief justice, Uttarakhand High Court [PHC: Kerala] as a judge of the Supreme Court should be reiterated. However, the said reiteration should also be accompanied by the recommendation of the names of chief justices of high courts for elevation as judges of the Supreme Court, for which detailed discussion is required,” a note put up on the court website after the meeting said.
Sources told ThePrint that a final decision on the other names will be taken on 16 May, when the collegium will also discuss the names of other senior high court chief justices. Friday’s meeting lasted for over 40 minutes.
What happened in the lead-up to the meeting
Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra called a meeting of the collegium – comprising the five senior-most judges of the top court, Friday after Justice Jasti Chelameswar, the second most senior judge, wrote another letter asking for a meeting to reiterate Joseph’s name. Chelameswar retires on 22 June and the next meeting could well be his last, since the court breaks for summer vacation on 18 May.
More than two weeks have passed since the Modi government, on 26 April, returned the name of Joseph for “reconsideration”, while clearing the appointment of the second recommendation, Indu Malhotra.
On 2 May, when the collegium met to discuss the matter, it had to defer its decision due to a “lack of unanimity”.
As first reported by ThePrint, at that meeting, while the CJI pushed for names of senior judges from the high courts of Calcutta, Rajasthan, and Telangana & Andhra Pradesh for elevation as judges of the Supreme Court, the other four judges were in agreement that Joseph’s name must first be reiterated before discussing fair regional representation from other high courts.
Apart from Joseph, the other names that the collegium considered were Indira Banerjee, currently chief justice of the Madras HC, who is originally from the Calcutta HC; Gujarat HC chief justice R. Subhash Reddy, who is originally from the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh HC; and Karnataka HC chief justice Dinesh Maheshwari, who is originally from the Rajasthan HC.
However, since there was no consensus, the matter was deferred.
The additional names were considered in light of the Modi government’s insistence, underlined in its letter to CJI Dipak Misra while returning the name of Joseph for reconsideration, that seniority and the principle of regional representation must be taken into consideration while recommending names.
It is important for all members of the collegium to be on board as the 1988 Supreme Court ruling in the Third Judges Case specifies that the reiteration of a name must be unanimous and not a vote by majority.
Escalating its conflict with the judiciary, the Modi government last month appointed senior advocate Indu Malhotra as a judge of the apex court, while ignoring the recommendation to elevate Joseph. Both recommendations were sent together to the government on 10 January.
In his letter, sent Wednesday, Chelameswar referred to the collegium meeting held on 2 May, when it decided to defer reconsidering the elevation of Joseph, following letters dated 26 and 30 April received from the union law ministry.
The official collegium meeting did not take place on 9 May, as expected, but three members of the collegium – Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Kurian Joseph and Madan B. Lokur — unofficially met CJI Misra in his chambers after working hours, where they expressed their reservation at the delay in reiterating Joseph’s name for elevation. Chelameswar was on leave that day.