The Supreme Court’s Collegium, comprising of the five senior-most judges, is likely to meet again today to decide on recommending Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice KM Joseph’s elevation to the apex court.
The Collegium had discussed this matter last week but had decided to defer a final decision on the same to today. It had decided back then that it would reiterate Chief Justice Joseph’s name for elevation to the Centre, which had rejected this proposal a few weeks ago. If the Collegium sends Justice Joseph’s name for the second time, the government will have no choice but to accept it.
The judges are reported to have drafted a point-by-point rejoinder in response to the Centre’s decision. Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra convened this meeting after Justice Chelameshwar, the senior-most judge after him, wrote a letter seeking reiteration of Justice Joseph’s name to the Centre for approval.
The Collegium had in January recommended elevation of Supreme Court advocate Indu Malhotra and Justice Joseph from Uttarakhand HC. The Centre had approved Malhotra’s name and she has become a Supreme Court judge now, but it rejected Justice Joseph’s elevation, sparking off a face-off between the Collegium and the government.
Opposition parties and media reports had previously suggested that the government had rejected Justice Joseph’s name because of his 2016 judgment which had annulled President’s rule in Uttarakhand. Rubbishing these allegations, Law Minister Ravishankar Prasad had stated that the Centre had opposed the former Kerala high court judge’s elevation because he was not among the senior-most judges and that there were many other high courts that had still not received much representation in the Supreme Court.