The Union government on Monday apprised the Supreme Court that the file regarding elevation of Delhi High Court judge, Justice Siddharth Mridul as Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court, has been cleared and that the Centre would shortly issue a notification for the same.
Appearing for the Central government, Attorney General R. Venkataramani told the Bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia that files regarding transfer of 14 judges of High Courts had been cleared, while 12 were under process.
The development followed the recent berating of the Centre by the Apex Court over delay in the appointment of the Manipur High Court Chief Justice.
The Bench recorded in its order that the Centre has submitted regarding the appointment of a High Court Chief Justice of a sensitive state, which has been pending for a considerable time, that the file has been cleared and the notification would be issued shortly.
While recording the order, the top court of the country strongly told the AG that it wanted the appointment to be done by the next date of hearing. The Bench said it had been very polite with the Centre, let it remain so.
Earlier on September 26, the Bench had come down heavily on the Central government for not clearing 70 recommendations made by the Supreme Court Collegium on appointment and transfer of various High Court judges.
The Apex Court had noted that 70 recommendations made by the Supreme Court Collegium since November 11, 2022 were pending with the Union government.
The Bench directed Attorney General R. Venkataramani, appearing for the Central government, to take instructions from the Union of India with respect to the High Court recommendations made at least until the end of April this year.
It further sought the Centre’s reply on why the Union government was sitting on nine new recommendations, along with seven other names, which had been reiterated by the Collegium for judgeship in constitutional courts.
These included appointment of Chief Justice of a ‘sensitive’ High Court and 26 transfer proposals.
The top court of the country further noted that till four days ago, 80 files were pending with the Union government, out of which, it cleared 10.
So, the present figure stood at 70, the Apex Court pointed out, noting that nothing happened in the past seven months since it heard the case and passed an order.
The AG sought one-week time to seek instructions on the matter. The top court of the country granted time to the AG and listed the matter for further hearing on October 9.
The petition filed by AAB sought contempt action against the Union Ministry of Law and Justice for not adhering to the timeline set by the Court in a 2021 judgement for clearing collegium proposals.
A writ petition filed by the NGO Common Cause raising the issue of delay in judicial appointments was also listed along with the contempt petition.
(Case title: Advocates Association Bengaluru vs Barun Mitra And Anr)