Former CJIs, AG slam govt for holding back Justice Joseph elevation

Criticising the Centre’s decision to block Justice KM Joseph’s elevation as per the Supreme Court Collegium’s recommendations, former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha has asked the incumbent Dipak Misra to urgently convene a Collegium meeting to address the issue.

The government’s “segregation” of the recommendations—to hold back the elevation of Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court Justice KM Joseph to the Supreme Court, while accepting the elevation of advocate Indu Malhotra, “strikes at the very heart of the independence of the judiciary,” according to former CJI Lodha, the Indian Express reported.

“What governments do by segregating recommendations, is (to) throw plans of the Collegium for seniority or ensuring a certain succession of future Chief Justices out of the window. By simply sitting over the file for weeks and then picking one and not the other, a whole new succession comes into play. This is interference in the judiciary, apart from, of course, rejecting names that the government doesn’t find favourable,” the Indian Express quoted former CJI Lodha as saying. The former CJI was further quoted as saying, “the Chief Justice of India, in such a situation, should immediately call a meeting of the Collegium and take up the matter with the government. If the reiteration must be done, it must happen immediately…The Chief Justice cannot sit over the file either, indefinitely, as can’t the government.”

Another former chief justice, TS Thakur described the events following the segregation and return of Justice Joseph’s name as “unfortunate.” An NDTV report said former CJI Thakur told the channel that the centre's decision to turn down the recommendation to appoint Justice KM Joseph to the Supreme Court is sending a message that if a judge rules against the government, there will be consequences. Thakur further said the decision could not only strike at the heart of judicial independence but also lower the trust of people in the judicial system, as per the NDTV report.

The Indian Express also contacted two former Chief Justices and four other former judges of the Supreme Court. Speaking on the condition that they not be named, they were unanimous in their “serious concern” over Chief Justice Dipak Misra not initiating any conversation with the Centre over the manner in which it had sat on the collegium’s recommendations for over three months.

Former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee told National Herald on April 27 that the reasons cited by the government for holding back the collegium's recommendation to appoint Justice Joseph were “irrelevant”. Sorabjee told NH the most important things to be considered are integrity and merit and all other considerations are irrelevant. Seniority, he says, is an irrelevant factor. He added that “It is for the Collegium to decide if it wants to accept those reasons or not. If the Collegium does not accept those reasons and reiterates its decision to appoint Justice KM Joseph, then it is binding on the government.”