Recording its deep sense of disappointment, the CJAR issued a statement, calling it as unconstitutional and illegal.
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New Delhi: NGO Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) on Tuesday condemned the Centre's decision to withhold appointment of two advocates -- Swetasree Majumdar and Rajesh Datar -- as judges of High Courts despite Supreme Court's Collegium's recommendations.
Two advocates withdrew their consent for judgeship after their names were segregated from other appointees and kept pending for approval without any reason.
Recording its deep sense of disappointment, the CJAR issued a statement, calling it as unconstitutional and illegal.
"We reiterate that the practice of picking and choosing names for appointment from the list of names recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium has no sanction in law and is a direct violation of the Supreme Court's judgement in the Second Judges (1994) and Third Judges (1999) cases," it said.
It stated the illegal circumventing of the appointment procedure by the government is under challenge before the Supreme Court in a plea in which the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) had filed a writ petition seeking a mandamus from the government for timely judicial appointments in accordance with the law.
"We called upon the Supreme Court to uphold judicial independence as mandated through its own judgements and take immediate steps against the Union Government for its wilful disregard of the law and Constitution," it said.
Appreciating the Supreme Court Collegium in making greater efforts to scrutinise candidates for judgeship by holding interviews, it said, "We believe this effort will come to naught if the Union is allowed to simply discard qualified and suitable nominees for no good reason".
The NGO called upon the Supreme Court to take up the issue of judicial appointments once again on the judicial side and demand explanations from the Union Government on the circumstances under which Majumder and Datar's appointments were stymied by the Union government.