'Something going on' over deferment of SC's decision to elevate U'khand CJ: CPI

The CPI today said there was "something going on" over the deferement of the Supreme Court's decision to reconsider its recommendation to elevate the Uttarakhand chief justice as a judge of the apex court, even though the Congress hoped it was temporary.

The Supreme Court Collegium today deferred a decision on the issue of reconsidering its recommendation to elevate Uttarakhand Chief Justice (CJ) K M Joseph as the judge of the apex court, after it was sent back by the government last week.

"Hope this deferment is only temporary and the collegium will soon reiterate its earlier recommendation," senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said.

CPI leader D Raja alleged that there is "something going on" between the government and the judiciary.

"We do not have a national judicial commission. It all shows that crisis is not over. It is deepening in a way. Why the collegium has postponed. We know that the government had earlier objected to Justice Joseph's name.

"Nobody knows what is happening. There is no transparency. The government had earlier objected to Joseph's elevation. There is something going on between the government and the judiciary," he said.

The five member collegium comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph met after the top court's working hours, but no decision was taken.

Besides Justice Joseph, the agenda of the Collegium was to deliberate on the names of some judges from Calcutta, Rajasthan and Telangana and Andhra Pradesh high courts for elevation as apex court judges.

The government had said that the proposal for his name was not in accordance with the top court's parameters and there was adequate representation of Kerala in the higher judiciary from where he hails.

His seniority was also questioned by the Centre.