Govt says it could not pursue Subramanium's case as he himself

After Chief Justice R M Lodha expressed displeasure, government tonight said the case of Gopal Subramanium for appointment as a Supreme Court judge was not taken forward as the noted lawyer himself "withdrew" his candidature while the process of conducting verifications was underway.
Government sources said the Supreme Court collegium had referred four cases for appointment as the judges.
"As a standard operating procedure, verification about all the four was conducted. Out of them, three cases were fine but the case of Subramanium was referred back to the Collegium for reconsideration," the sources said.
"In the meanwhile, Subramanium himself withdrew his candidature because of which his candidature lapsed and the issue was no longer valid," the sources said, adding, "hence, his case was not taken forward."

The explanation came after Justice Lodha took exception to the government's handling of the recommendation for appointment of Subramanium as judge of the Supreme Court, saying it was not proper for the executive to unilaterally segregate his name from three others who were appointed to the top court.
Lodha, who was travelling abroad when the segregation of Subramanium's name from those of others took place, went public this evening with his objection to government's unilateral action.
The Supreme Court collegium headed by the Chief Justice of India had recommended names of four eminent persons as judges of the apex court but the government cleared the names of Chief Justices of Calcutta and Orissa High Courts, Arun Mishra and Adarsh Kumar Goyal respectively, and lawyer Rohinton Nariman, leaving out the former Solicitor General.