Advocate Harnaresh Singh Gill’s name had been cleared by SC collegium in April last year but govt had been sitting on his file without ‘assigning any reason’.
New Delhi: Following a strong nudge from Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, the Modi government may finally clear the appointment of advocate Harnaresh Singh Gill as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, almost two-and-a-half years after his name was first recommended for the post.
Sources in the Supreme Court told ThePrint that the CJI has asked the government to clear the names, including Gill’s, which it has been sitting on without “assigning any reason”.
The sources said that worried by a strong backlash from the judiciary for stalling names, the Modi government has assured the Supreme Court that Gill’s name will be cleared for appointment soon.
“We are expecting the warrants of appointment to be issued later this week or early next week,” said a senior SC functionary.
The functionary also said that the CJI has been pushing the Central government to process the names without any delay.
Gill was recommended by the Punjab and Haryana High Court collegium in June 2016, and his name was cleared by the Supreme Court Collegium in April 2017.
The Centre had been stalling his appointment for over a year now.
Also read: Centre sitting on SC collegium’s recommendations without offering a reason
Govt’s tussles with judiciary
The Centre had stalled the appointment of Supreme Court judge K.M. Joseph for over six months, almost browbeating the apex court into sending more names before Joseph’s appointment could be cleared.
The Centre has also taken the questionable decision of segregating names sent together by the SC collegium — appointing some names on the list while putting others on hold, often without assigning any reason.
This is the case with Gill’s elevation as well. As first reported by ThePrint, the Centre had not been processing the appointments of Gill and three other advocates, in spite of the SC collegium reiterating their names at least once.
Of the four, the Centre has rejected the names of Basharat Ali Khan and Mohammad Mansoor — both from the Allahabad High Court — while the name of Mohd. Nizamuddin is yet to be cleared.
Nizamuddin was first recommended for elevation to the Calcutta High Court in early 2016. There are indications that the Centre may clear his name too.
Also read: SC collegium bows to Modi govt, withdraws Bose’s name for Delhi HC CJ, reiterates Joseph