PIL on judges' appointment filed too prematurely: HC

 The High Court of Karnataka on Friday said that the PIL challenging the names that have been recommended by the collegium for appointment of high court judges is ‘too prematurely filed’. 

Specially constituted division bench comprising Justices A S Bopanna and Ravi Malimath said that the petitioner has filed the PIL out of “anxiety”. The bench said that as advocates, it is their duty to protect the integrity of the institution. The bench said that it was too early to hear the PIL as the list of names have only been recommended and not finalised. 

The PIL filed by N P Amruthesh, an advocate has challenged the names that have been recommended by the collegium for appointment of judges, contending that majority of the names are from one particular caste. The petitioner has said that of the 10 advocates who have been finalised for elevation, six belong to a particular caste. According to the details filed before the court, Krishna Dixit, K N Phanindra, Aravind Kamath, G S Kannur, S G Pandit and Chaithanya, are all Brahmins. The others whose names figure in the list are: R Devdas (SC), B M Sham Prasad (Vokkaliga), Nagaprasanna (Lingayat) and Sunil Yadav (Yadavas).

The petitioner has also contended that the collegium has no machinery to assess the integrity, honesty or other basic requirements to hold the post of high court judge. He has said that two judges from the collegium had no information about the legal competence of the persons whom they were recommending. 

The petitioner has said that the collegium has failed to follow the law laid down by the NJAC (National Judicial Appointments Commission) and its ground for recommendation lacked transparency.  He has sought directions to High Court of Karnataka to follow the law laid in the NJAC case in recommending the name to the post of high court judges.