The Supreme Court Collegium on Friday decided to return the name of Justice KM Joseph to the Centre for appointment as judge of the apex court. The Collegium of the five senior most judges saw no fault in the original recommendation in which they had called Justice Joseph as the most suitable among High Court Chief Justices to be elevated to the apex court. The Collegium also considered the names of additional judges for elevation and is expected to reiterate the name of Justice Joseph along with them in the next meeting on May 16.
The elevation of Justice Joseph, who is presently the Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court, had run into rough weather after the Centre wrote to the Collegium on April 26 and April 30 to reconsider his name. The Government followed the principle of seniority laid down by the past Supreme Court decisions on judicial appointments and found Justice Joseph to be ranked 42 on the all-India judges’ seniority list. Further, the Centre urged to give representation to several High Courts who did not have a fair representation in the Supreme Court.
The parent High Court of Justice Joseph is Kerala High Court. The Centre argued that this HC has enjoyed fair representation in the SC and currently has a judge from that State HC. The Centre even emphasised the need of having representation of judges from the SC/ST community as well. Following the receipt of the two letters, the Collegium met on May 2 but deferred the decision to May 11.
The unanimous resolution passed by the Collegium on Friday said, “The Chief Justice and other members of the Collegium have, in principle, unanimously agreed that the recommendation for appointment of Justice Joseph, Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court as a Judge of the SC should be reiterated.
However, the said reiteration should also be accompanied by the recommendation of the names of Chief Justices of High Courts for elevation as Judges of the Supreme Court, for which detailed discussion is required.” The next sitting of the Collegium will be at 4.15 pm on May 16.
Sources suggested that the Collegium deliberated on the names of some of the senior Chief Justices of High Courts of Madras, Calcutta, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka.
Even before Friday’s decision, members of the Collegium had given indications of a possible unanimity on the name of returning the recommendation of Justice Joseph. If the Collegium sends it back a second time, as in the present case, the Centre is bound to accept the recommendation. lately, Justice J Chelameswar, the senior most judge of the apex court, wrote to the CJI on May 9 urging him to convene a meeting to reiterate Justice Joseph’s name. Prior to this, another Collegium member, Justice Kurian Joseph had openly backed the recommendation of the Collegium to elevate the Uttarakhand Chief Justice.