New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday (September 19), while urging the Supreme Court to adjourn hearing on a plea related to appointment of judges after a week, told a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud that it will be providing some details to the court next week on the recommendations of the apex court collegium on the appointment of chief justices in various high courts in the country.
Attorney General made submissions while seeking adjournment of hearing on a PIL listed for hearing on September 20
Attorney General R Venkataramani made the submission before the bench, also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, seeking adjournment of the hearing on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) listed for hearing on Friday.
“I will be providing some details about the recommendations of the collegium. Please list the plea listed on Friday (tomorrow) after a week,” Venkataramani submitted before the bench.
The bench, however, told the top law officer that the submissions for adjournment on hearing can be made on Friday itself as the case is already on board.
PIL seeks a direction to fix timeline for Centre to notify appointment of judges recommended by apex court collegium
The PIL filed by advocate Harsh Vibhore Singhal is listed for hearing before the top court on September 20. The PIL has submitted that the government arbitrarily delays notifying appointments of judges in the absence of a fixed period and has sought a direction to fix the timeline for Centre to notify the appointment of judges recommended by the Supreme Court collegium.
Jharkhand government has filed a contempt petition, CJI Chandrachud told Attorney General
CJI Chandrachud on Thursday also told the Attorney General that the Jharkhand government has filed a contempt petition against the Centre for not appointing the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court.
Venkataramani told the court that he was not aware about it.
The Jharkhand government has moved the top court against the Centre for not clearing the recommendation made by the Supreme Court collegium to appoint Justice MS Ramachandra Rao as the chief justice of the Jharkhand High Court.
Some ‘sensitive material’ was received by Centre, which has led to delay in implementation of the recommendations of collegium, AG earlier told apex court
The top law officer had on September 13 told the apex court bench that some “sensitive material” was received by the Centre, which has led to delay in implementation of the recommendations of the Supreme Court collegium on appointments of chief justices to high courts. Submitting that revealing those sensitive information in public domain would neither be in the interest of the institution nor of the judges involved, the Attorney General had told the court that he would like to submit the inputs and suggestions for perusal by the judges in a sealed cover.
The bench had then posted the matter for hearing on September 20.
Apex court collegium’s recommendation for appointment of chief justices for seven high courts is pending with Centre
The Supreme Court collegium in a resolution dated July 11 had recommended to the Centre the names for the appointment of chief justices for seven high courts – Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Madras and Meghalaya. The recommendations of the collegium are pending approval with the Centre. The collegium, however, modified its July 11 resolution by a resolution dated September 17 relating to the appointment of the chief justices for the high courts of Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.