SC Collegium reiterates Justice Joseph's elevation

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Collegium has reaffirmed its decision to recommend Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K M Joseph's name for elevation as apex court judge.

The five-member Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, said that there was "nothing adverse" regarding the suitability of Justice Joseph as has been pointed out in the letters of the Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The resolution of the Collegium meeting held on July 16 and uploaded on Friday said that the two letters written by the Prasad to the CJI while returning the recommendation of Joseph were "carefully considered".

Besides the CJI, other members of the Collegium are justices Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A K Sikri.

The centre had returned Joseph's file to the collegium for it to reconsider the recommendation on grounds including that the proposal was not per the top court's parameters and there was an adequate representation of his native state Kerala in the top court.

The government had also questioned Justice Joseph's seniority among high court judges while returning the file.

It is not unusual for the centre to return the collegium's recommendation for appointment of high court judges. In 2016, the centre told parliament that it had asked the collegium to reconsider 43 names for the high court.

But it is rare for the government to return a recommendation for elevation to the Supreme Court. The only occasion when such a situation arose in recent years was when the NDA government blocked elevation of senior lawyer Gopal Subramanium in 2014.

If the collegium sends back a name a second time, the centre has no choice but to accept it.

The Collegium also recommended Orissa High Court Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee to the Supreme Court.

Justice Aniruddha Bose was appointed as the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court and Justice Rajendra Menon, who is currently the Patna High Court Chief Justice, was appointed the Delhi High Court Chief Justice.