New Delhi: A three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has said that the government of India must “not unearth skeletons in cupboards” in the names of persons recommended for appointment as judges by the Supreme Court collegium, but ensure that “the business of governance proceeds.”
The Supreme Court bench on Friday, while dealing with petitions raising the issue of delay by government of India in appointing judges, also said that the collegium making recommendations of appointment of judges to high courts and Supreme Court “is not just a search committee” and has sought a report from the government on status of appointment of judges, whose names have been approved by the Supreme Court Collegium.
“In a case of a search committee, you have the discretion to accept or not to accept the recommendations made by the search committee. But collegium is not a search committee,” said Chief Justice of India DY Chandarchud.
What did the apex court ask Centre?
The court has asked the Attorney General for India, appearing for the central government, to prepare a tabulated chart showing the status of the recommendations of names of persons who have been cleared for appointments as judges and why they have not been processed by the government.
Jharkhand recently filed a contempt case for delay in appointment of High Court Chief Justice
State of Jharkhand recently filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking contempt action against government for delay and in not appointing Justice MS Ramachandra Rao as the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High court.
A five-judge collegium of the Supreme Court of India has cleared the name of justice Ramachandar Rao in July this year for appointment as Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High court, but the same has not been cleared by the government of India.
Supreme Court collegium recommends names of persons to be appointed high court judges to Centre
The Supreme Court collegium is a body of 5 seniormost judges of the Supreme Court that recommends the names of persons to be made judges to the high courts. After the names are recommended, the file is sent to government of India for appointment.
However, at this point of time the government can send back the names to the collegium for reconsideration, but if the collegium reiterates the names the government is bound to make the appointments.
But in recent times it has been seen that the government sits on the names recommended by the collegium because there is no fixed time frame in which the government has to clear the appointments.