NEW DELHI — The Centre on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to “push for another week” the hearing on a batch of pleas concerning the delay in the appointment or transfer of judges in the higher judiciary.
Attorney General (AG) R. Venkataramani, the highest law officer of the Union government, mentioned the matter before Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud and prayed that the batch of petitions be deleted from the causelist for September 20.
“If the batch of petitions could be pushed for another week or so, I will be in a position to come back with something. Let it not be taken up tomorrow,” submitted A.G. Venkataramani.
At this, CJI Chandrachud said, “It will be on board because the causelist is already out. You can mention it tomorrow because the other side is not here.”
“There is also a contempt petition filed by the State of Jharkhand against the Union of India (over delay in appointment of Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court). This was brought to my attention yesterday when the board was being prepared” added the Chief Justice.
In response, the law officer said that he was not aware of it.
“Since the matter is on board already, you mention it tomorrow, no difficulty,” reiterated CJI Chandrachud.
In December last year, advocate Prashant Bhushan had termed it a “very strange” situation when judges’ appointment matter was deleted from the causelist and urged that an explanation must be called from the apex court registry over non-listing.
Bhushan, who appeared on behalf of litigants seeking contempt action against the Centre over ‘delay’ in notifying SC Collegium recommendation, told a bench of Justices S.K. Kaul (now retired) and Sudhanshu Dhulia that the clutch of petitions was not listed for hearing despite a fixed date given in the previous order.
At this, Justice Kaul had said: “I am sure that the Chief Justice (of India) must be aware of it. I have not deleted the matter or expressed unwillingness to take it. Some things are better left unsaid sometimes.”
Earlier, the top court had warned the Centre of "an unpalatable order" if it delayed and continued to have the selective 'pick and choose' approach in notifying recommendations forwarded by the SC Collegium.
Presently, the committee comprising the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, commonly called the Collegium, sends the recommendation for the appointment of a judge to the apex court as per the 1993 Second Judges Case.
The Collegium basically decides who will be appointed as a judge to the Supreme Court or a High Court. As per convention, the government is obliged to accept the Collegium's recommendation if the decision has been reiterated. Commonly called "judges selecting judges", in this system, judges are appointed and transferred only by judges.
In 2015, a five-judge Constitution Bench struck down the Centre’s idea of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) to replace the Collegium system.
Article 124(2) of the Constitution provides that "every Judge of the Supreme Court shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal after consultation with such of the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts in the States as the President may deem necessary for the purpose."