2 justices objected to finalising names for Supreme Court posts via letter, says judges’ body

The SC Collegium said Monday that the meeting to be held on 30 September – the same day the letter was sent by the CJI – stood discharged.

Supreme Court of India | Representational image | ANI file photo

New Delhi: Two Supreme Court justices objected to the procedure adopted by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) to finalise names of candidates to be elevated to the top court, revealed a Collegium resolution uploaded Monday.

The resolution stated Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and S. Abdul Nazeer had objected to the method adopted by CJI U.U. Lalit to finalise candidate names through circulation of a letter written by him on 30 September.

The collegium meeting during which this resolution was finalised took place on 9 October.

Elaborating on the background that led to this development, the statement said that at a meeting on 26 September, the Collegium unanimously agreed to elevate Bombay High Court Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and a resolution to that effect was passed.

The decision on 10 other names that were in consideration were to be taken at a meeting on 30 September.

The meeting could not be held on that day as Justice D.Y. Chandrachud was in court beyond 9 pm. Following this, CJI Lalit sought to finalise four names through a written letter dated the same day which was circulated among Collegium judges.

They were Justice Ravi Shankar Jha (Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court); Justice Sanjay Karol (Chief Justice of Patna High Court); Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar (Chief Justice of Manipur High Court) and Senior Advocate K.V. Viswanathan.

While Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K.M. Joseph agreed to the names proposed by the CJI via a letter, Justices Chandrachud and S. Abdul Nazeer objected to this method of finalising names, the Collegium resolution further said.

The CJI addressed a second letter on 2 October to justices Chandrachud and Nazeer, but there was no response to it.

In the meanwhile, the Union Law Minister wrote to CJI Lalit on 7 October to finalise his successor before he left office in the first week of November.

In view of this, the resolution noted : “…no further steps need be taken and the unfinished work in the meeting called for September 30, 2022 is closed without there being any further deliberation. The meeting dated September 30, 2022 stands discharged.”