SC collegium stands by decision to recommend Justice KM Joseph as apex court judge

The Supreme Court collegium on Friday decided to back Uttarakhand high court Chief Justice KM Joseph for elevation to the top court despite the government spurning his nomination last month. The move is certain to further strain the already frayed relationship between the executive and the top judiciary.

The five senior-most judges of the Supreme Court who comprise the collegium — Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, and Justices Jasti Chelameswar, R Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph — said that they had “on principle, unanimously agreed that the recommendation for appointment of Justice KM Joseph as a judge of the Supreme Court should be reiterated”.

The collegium chose not to send Justice Joseph’s name to the government immediately, noting in their resolution that “the said reiteration should also be accompanied by the recommendation of the names of Chief Justices of high courts for elevation as judges of the Supreme Court, for which detailed discussion is required”. The collegium, which decides on appointments to the higher judiciary, also considered the names of three judges from Calcutta, Rajasthan, and Telangana & Andhra Pradesh high courts, who are currently chief justices of other high courts, for elevation to the SC.

The collegium met two days after justice Chelameswar wrote a letter to the CJI asking him to convene a meeting so that it could reiterate its recommendation that justice Joseph be elevated to the Supreme Court . With the collegium clearing his name, it will be difficult for the government to say no a second time, although it can take as much time as it wants before it decides on this.

The collegium has done the right thing by deciding to reiterate justice Joseph’s name for elevation to the apex court, senior advocate KTS Tulsi said.

“The recommendation is now a binding on the government. The ball is now in the government’s court and it depends on them whether they want to intensify the standoff between the judiciary and legislature. It is for them to decide,” he added.

The Supreme Court and the government have been sparring on the issue of selection of judges to the apex court since 2014 when the government came up with a law codifying this process. The Supreme Court rejected this law in 2015 even as it admitted that the current process of selection could be improved and said that it would work with the government on a so-called Memorandum of Procedure on the selection of judges. There hasn’t been much progress on that front.

On May 2, the collegium had met to reconsider the case of justice Joseph’s elevation to the Supreme Court in the face of opposition by the government. But no decision was taken; the names of three more judges from the Calcutta high court, Andhra & Telangana high court and Rajasthan high court too were discussed at that meeting. It was decided at that meeting that the collegium would meet a week later and take a call on the four names.

Justice Joseph’s elevation to the top court has been a bone of contention between the government and the collegium, which found him to be a meritorious and eminently suitable for appointment to the Supreme Court and, recommended his name as early as January 10 to the government. But the government, after sitting on the recommendation for over three months, returned the name of justice Joseph, calling the proposed appointment as “not appropriate” and unfair and unjustified to other more suitable chief justices and judges of high courts.