The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Union of India to submit a list of names reiterated by the Collegium for judgeship, seeking an explanation as to why they haven’t been processed yet.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra made the observations while hearing two petitions on the matter.
The first petition was filed by the Jharkhand government seeking contempt of court action against the Central government for not clearing the recommendation made by the Collegium to appoint Justice MS Ramachandra Rao as the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court.
On July 11, the Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the appointment of Justice Rao. The recommendation was pending approval by the Central government.
The second petition was filed by Advocate Harsh Vibhore Singal, seeking fixed timelines for the Union government to process and approve Collegium resolutions.
Attorney General R Venkataramani today told the Court that he was little unwell.
Singal said that he did not know what the Centre got by seeking adjournments in such a case. He said the problem was not with the process of judges.
Before he could finish, the Bench said that it would take up the matter when it was called.
When the case came up for hearing again, the Bench expressed its inclination to adjourn it, revealing that some appointments were being cleared.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan then said that there were cases of Saurabh Kirpal, where names were not cleared and there were so many instances when the Centre sat on Collegium recommendations for years.
The Bench then directed the AG to make a list of the names reiterated, along with the reasons why it was pending and at what level it was pending.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the State of Jharkhand, contended that Justice Sarangi’s name (recommended as Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court in December 2023 and appointed only in July 2024) could not be cleared and he could not join for six months.
The AG responded that there were several reasons why such names eere pending and the Central government had no hesitation. It was very easy to come to court and say all of this.
The matter was eventually adjourned.
The Jharkhand government submitted in it’s plea that there was inordinate delay in clearing the Collegium recommendation as regards the previous Chief Justice too.
It said the Collegium had recommended the name of Orissa High Court judge Justice BR Sarangi as Chief Justice of Jharkhand on December 27, 2023.
However, the appointment was cleared by the Central government only on July 3, 2024 and Justice Sarangi retired from office on July 19. Thus, he ended up serving as Chief Justice for only 15 days, noted the petition.
The Collegium had acted promptly by recommending the appointment of Chief Justice well in advance, but the Centre has not acted on the same, the State has alleged.
This has affected the administration of justice and the delay by the Central government is in violation of the Supreme Court judgments in the Second Judges and the Third Judges cases, and a direct assault on the independence of judiciary, it added.