With just over a month into his 14-month term as Chief Justice of India, the college led by Justice SA Bobde has yet to make its first recommendation that a judge be appointed to the Supreme Court since he took office. position in November 2019.
The last time a CJI retired without a single SC appointment was in 2015 during CJI HL Dattu’s tenure when there was an unprecedented confrontation between the judiciary and the government over the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC).
This time, however, the impasse is within.
Sources told The Indian Express that one reason is the lack of consensus in the college, which includes CJI Bobde and Justices NV Ramana, Rohinton Nariman, UU Lalit and AM Khanwilkar, in recommending Judge Akil Kureshi, President from the Superior Court of Tripura, to the top Court.
The stagnation in the college occurs even when the nomination process of at least six judges of the SC expires.
The high court is missing four judges, while two retirements, from CJI Bobde and Judge Indu Malhotra, are due in the next two months. Additionally, Judges Ashok Bhushan, Rohinton Nariman and Navin Sinha will be retiring this year.
Justice Kureshi is currently number 3 on the all-India seniority list after Chief Justice of Gujarat Vikram Nath and Chief Justice DN Patel of Delhi High Court.
The appointment of Judge Kureshi as CJ of Tripura was also a point of contention for the then collegiate SC headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi.
In September 2019, the South Carolina college of courts had reversed its May 2019 recommendation appointing Judge Kureshi as CJ of the Madhya Pradesh High Court after the government returned the file for reconsideration and instead recommend for the post of Chief Justice of Tripura.
Without citing reasons, the referee said that his reconsideration was based on the “communication and material” posted by the Department of Justice.
Even in November 2018, when the position of CJ of Gujarat High Court became vacant, Judge Kureshi, who was then the highest-ranking judge of the High Court, took over as Chief Justice of the Gujarat HC Acting Supreme Court according to the convention. .
However, the government appointed Justice AS Dave, who was then the second highest-ranking judge in the Gujarat High Court after Kureshi, as acting Chief Justice and instead transferred Justice Kureshi to the Bombay High Court. as his fifth highest ranking judge.
This unusual situation would have led Judge Kureshi to serve as a judge in Gujarat HC until he took office in Bombay HC, while his deputy would act as CJ. However, this was also reversed when the Gujarat HC Bar launched a protest and moved the SC.
CJI Bobde inherited only one vacancy, that of former CJI Ranjan Gogoi, compared to the total force of 34 judges when he took office. However, three judges have retired since leaving the SC with 30 judges.
The first vacancy in CJI Bobde’s term was at least nine months ago when Judge Deepak Gupta stepped down in May of last year.
In contrast, four of his predecessors had at least four appointments by the government regardless of the length of their terms. Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi inherited seven vacancies when he took office, but during his tenure 14 judges were appointed and, for a few weeks before retiring, he chaired a full-fledged SC.
In addition to the 14 SC appointments, 146 appointments were made to higher courts during his tenure. Gogoi, by the way, had a slightly shorter term of 13 and a half months as CJI.
Former CJI Dipak Misra, who preceded Gogoi, saw four appointments in the SC and 81 appointments in higher courts, although his 13-month term was plagued with controversy, including an unprecedented impeachment move against him. He was CJI from August 2017 to October 2018.
Four SC judges were appointed during the tenure of Misra’s predecessor, former CJI JS Khehar in his brief tenure of less than eight months. Before CJI Khehar, former CJI TS Thakur who was CJI between December 2015 and January 2017 also saw four judges appointed to the SC.
However, between September 2014 and December 2015, when Judge HL Dattu was CJI, no appointments were made to the SC as the NJAC, which sought to alter the judicial appointments process by giving the executive a foot in the door, was being contested. Before the court.
On October 16, 2015, a bench of five SC judges overturned the constitutional amendment that the NJAC sought to establish. That case, in which the judiciary waged an existential territorial war against the government, had based the appointment of judges in the CS and the HC.
.
She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.