“.there is urgent need for the court to give a judicial pronouncement on the issue of how long a government can sit over a file”, Naphade said.
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Seeking contempt action against lawyers and politicians, Bhatia said they have defamed the judiciary by making adverse remarks against the apex court.
Alleging that the governments also want to “pack HCs with their own people”, he noted that there were 410 vacancies among the 771 approved strength of all High Court judges.
Former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha on Thursday spoke against the government’s alleged “interference in the judiciary” and criticised the incumbent Dipak Misra’s role in the situation, The Indian Express reported. “If the reiteration must be done, it must happen immediately”. “It would also not be fair and justified to other more senior, suitable and deserving Chief Justices and senior judges of various High Courts”.
Another round of judiciary-executive stand-offs on this matter must be averted.
According to reports, the government was of the view that the Collegium has disregarded seniority and regional representation while recommending Justice Joseph, who is 42nd in the seniority list of 669 High Court judges. This was very wrong.
Sources said Misra wasn’t consulted by the government, but it still puts him in a tight spot as he faces the heat of an impeachment motion in the Rajya Sabha.
Prasad said that there was adequate representation from Justice Joseph’s parent High Court Kerala.
There are no representatives in the SC for 10 High Courts in the country.
The ministry’s letter to the CJI made some important observations regarding the rejection of the name of Justice Joseph.
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With this, Malhotra will be the first SC judge to be directly appointed from the bar. A contrary decision by the government should be considered malafide, he argued. Justice Chandrachud cited his and Justice Khanwilkar’s experience as HC chief justices to claim that such a principle of “all or none” if accepted would create havoc in big high courts. Judges are being labelled as junior judges and said that they were not fit to hear sensitive matters. But she highlighted the concern that a name is being held back by the Centre because some judgments passed by the judge in question are “unpalatable”. The 61-year-old is only the seventh female judge to serve in the nation’s highest court since the institution was established in 1950. These include Calcutta, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, J&K, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Manipur and Meghalaya. Ever since, the Collegium’s recommendation for Justice Joseph’s transfer to Andhra Pradesh and then his elevation to the Supreme Court has been blocked by the central government.
