Page 2 - Sc Collegium

Govt's opacity in appointing judges through collegium must go: Ex-SC judge

The government is more opaque than the collegium and this opacity of the executive in appointment of judges to higher judiciary has to go, former Supreme Court judge Justice (retd) Madan B Lokur has said. Lokur, who was part of the collegium during his judgeship days, batted for the existing collegium system of judges appointing judges in constitutional courts but acknowledged that it needed some changes for which discussions were necessary. The appointment of judges through the collegium system has often become a flashpoint between the Supreme Court and the Centre, with the mechanism drawing criticism from different quarters. The former judge was responding to a query on non-elevation of worthy high court judges like Justice S Muralidhar, the former Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court, to judgeship in the Supreme Court. I have repeatedly been saying that the collegium system is the best available method of appointment of judges, but it needs some changes. This needs discussion.

SC collegium recommends 3 HC Chief Justices as Supreme Court judges

The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Monday recommended the names of three high court chief justices as Supreme Court judges. The collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai and Surya Kant, recommended the names of Delhi High Court Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice Augustine George Masih and Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta as top court judges. If cleared by the Centre, the top court will have the full strength of 34 judges. The collegium in its resolution stated that the Supreme Court has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges and is currently functioning with 31 Judges. The Supreme Court has a huge backlog of cases. "In view of the ever-mounting pendency of cases, the workload of judges has increased considerably. Bearing in mind the above, it has become necessary to ensure that the Court has full working judge-strength leaving no vacancy at any point of time. .

SC to hear pleas on delay in approving collegium recommendations on Oct 9

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday two petitions including the one alleging delay by the Centre in clearing the names recommended by the collegium for appointment and transfer of judges. The appointment of judges through the collegium system has in the past become a major flashpoint between the Supreme Court and the Centre with the mechanism drawing criticism from different quarters. A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia is scheduled to hear the pleas on October 9. While hearing the matter on September 26, the apex court had voiced dismay over the "delay" in the appointment of judges and asked Attorney General R Venkataramani to use his office to resolve the issue. "There were 80 recommendations pending until last week when 10 names were cleared. Now, the figure is 70, of which 26 recommendations are of transfer of judges, seven are reiterations, nine are pending without being returned to the collegium and one case is of appointment of the Chief

SC collegium recommends 4 names as judges of Orissa, Gauhati and Kerala HCs

A three-judge collegium headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Thursday recommended the names of two judicial officers, one advocate and one additional judge for appointment as judges of the high courts of Orissa, Gauhati and Kerala. The collegium, which also comprises Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sanjiv Khanna, recommended the names of advocate Sibo Sankar Mishra and judicial officer Ananda Chandra Behera as judges of the Orissa High Court. It recommended the name of judicial officer Budi Habung for appointment as a judge of the Gauhati High Court. It also recommended that Additional Judge Justice C S Sudha be appointed as Permanent Judge of the Kerala High Court. The collegium resolution uploaded on the apex court website stated that the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues recommended their names of Mishra and Behera on January 17, 2023. The chief Minister and the governor of Odisha have concurred with the ...

SC Collegium recommends 3 names as judges for HC of Himachal Pradesh

Judicial Officer Rakesh Kainthla has also been recommended as a judge of the HC of Himachal, according to an order issued by the SC Collegium

Centre appoints Justices Ujjal Bhuyan, SV Bhatti as Supreme Court judges

The Collegium in its resolution said that it resolves to recommend the appointments of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, and Justice S Venkatanarayana Bhatti by following the order of seniority

Advocate K V Viswanathan's name recommended by Collegium to become 58th CJI

Justice MR Shah and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari demitted office within a span of last two days, bringing the strength of the top court to 32 judges

Collegium system ideal for judges appointment, says ex-CJI U U Lalit

Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Uday Umesh Lalit Saturday said the collegium was the "ideal system" for appointment of judges to the top court and high courts in the country. His comments come in the backdrop of Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju raising questions over the collegium system. Justice Lalit, who demitted office as the 49th CJI on November 8, 2022, also said judiciary was completely independent of the executive and while the Supreme Court was "fantastic", there is "tremendous area for improvement". Speaking at the India Today Conclave, Justice Lalit emphasised that the collegium system enables selection of judges by a body which is reviewing performances at the "grass-root" and the process of recommendation by the apex court body is through a consultative route. While recommending a judge, not only is performance but the opinion of other judges as well as IB report is also considered in the process and a new regime of appointment can only be "put in place in a manner

Former CJI UU Lalit backs Collegium system, says 'near-perfect model'

Former CJI Lalit said that they can be infirmities as some recommendations get dropped

SC Collegium recommends 20 additional HC judges for permanent judgeship

The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Wednesday recommended to the Centre the names of 20 additional judges for making them permanent judges in high courts of Allahabad, Mumbai, Madras and Delhi. Of the 20 names, the maximum 10 have been recommended for the Allahabad HC by the three-member Collegium, also comprising justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph. The Collegiums recommended five for the Madras High Court, four for the Bombay High Court and one for the Delhi High Court. "The Collegium resolves to recommend that S/Shri Justices (1) Chandra Kumar Rai, (2) Krishan Pahal, (3) Sameer Jain, (4) Ashutosh Srivastava, (5) Subhash Vidyarthi, (6) Brij Raj Singh, (7) Shree Prakash Singh, (8) Vikas Budhwar, (9) Om Prakash Tripathi, and (10) Vikram D. Chauhan, Additional Judges, be appointed as Permanent Judges of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad against the existing vacancies," a resolution uploaded on the apex court website said. In .

Budget Session: Centre returned 10 proposals, 6 mn cases pending and more

Out of the 10 proposals, the SC Collegium has reiterated its recommendation in three cases

Five names recommended by Collegium for SC to be cleared soon: Centre

The Centre on Friday assured the Supreme Court that the Collegium's recommendation for the appointment of five judges in the apex court will be cleared soon. Attorney General R Venkataramani told a bench of Justices S K Kaul and A S Oka that warrant of appointments of these five names is expected to be issued soon. The bench expressed displeasure over the delay by the Centre in clearing recommendations for transfer of high court judges, saying "it is a very, very serious issue". "Don't make us take a stand which will be very uncomfortable," the bench observed. The apex court, which was hearing a matter related to the Centre's alleged delay in clearing names recommended by the Collegium for appointment as judges to the Supreme Court and high courts, has posted it for further hearing on February 13 The Collegium on December 13 last year recommended five judges for elevation to the apex court -- Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal, Patna High Court Chief Justice Sanjay

You are bound to follow collegium decision: former SC judge to Rijiju

This comes after Kiren Rijiju criticized the SC's collegium system of seeking RAW and IB inputs on the appointment of judges in the High Courts

Centre seeks to interfere in functioning of courts, alleges Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee objected to the Centre's proposal for the inclusion of govt nominees in the collegium system on appointments to the higher judiciary

Law minister Rijiju suggests inclusion of govt representatives in collegium

Kiren Rijiju has suggested the inclusion of the Centre's representatives in the SC collegium and of the state government in the HC collegiums

Dhankhar vs SC: Congress cites Naidu's remark that Constitution is supreme

Dhankhar's virtual censure of the judiciary had come following the apex court's remarks on the issue of the collegium system

2022 saw fresh attack on collegium system; record appointments in HCs

Amid a renewed attack mounted by the government on the collegium system of appointing members to the higher judiciary, a "record" 138 judges were appointed to the various high courts this year. Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, who has been questioning the collegium system, dubbed it as being "alien" to the Constitution. He also said that the issue of vacancies and appointments in the higher judiciary would continue to linger till such time a new system is created for the same. Seeking to overturn the collegium system, Parliament had passed - with near unanimity - the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act which was given constitutional status. The government brought into force the Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014 and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 on April 13, 2015. However, both the Acts were challenged in the Supreme Court which eventually declared both the laws as unconstitutional and void on October 16, 2015. After the judgment, the ..

Representations on lack of objectivity in collegium system received: Rijiju

The government has been receiving representations from "diverse sources" on lack of transparency, objectivity and social diversity in the collegium system of appointment of Supreme Court and high court judges with the request to improve the mechanism, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. In a written reply, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju also said the government has sent suggestions for supplementing the Memorandum of Procedure for appointment of judges to the high courts and Supreme Court. MoP is a document which guides the appointment and transfer of judges in the higher judiciary. He recalled that in a bid to make the collegium system of appointments of judges "more broad-based, transparent, accountable and bringing objectivity in the system", the government brought into force the Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014 and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 on April 13, 2015. However, both the Acts were challenged in the Supreme Court which eventually .

Selective arguments

Executive and judiciary need to find common ground

Collegium discussions can't be put in public domain through RTI, says SC

'Whatever was discussed in the collegium was not required to be put out in the public domain, that too under the RTI Act'