CJI's move to appoint SC judges faces stumbling block

Two Collegium judges object to nomination by circulation

An attempt made by CJI U U Lalit to fill up four vacant posts of judges in the Supreme Court has faced a stumbling block as two judges in Collegium, a body of five senior most judges, opposed it.

At least two judges are learnt have objected to the decision of appointment of judges through circulation of names of the proposal. They felt that the appointment could be made only by detailed deliberation in physical and face-to-face meetings.

A Collegium meeting earlier scheduled on the last working date before the Dussehra vacation on September 30 could not be held as Justice D Y Chandrachud continued to hold the court till 9 pm on Friday.

The Supreme Court is now scheduled to open on October 10 by which less than one month rule comes in to play, according to which an outgoing CJI can't convene a meeting of the Collegium to recommend appointment of judges.

CJI Lalit is scheduled to superannuate on November 8. As per the convention, the government seeks recommendation on the name of successor from the outgoing CJI within one month of his retirement.

Currently, there are vacancies of five judges in the Supreme Court out of sanctioned post of 34 judges. The Collegium also comprising Justices Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S Abdul Nazeer and K M Joseph had earlier approved elevation of the Bombay High Court Chief Justice Dipankar Dutta to the top court.

The CJI, in his letter, has proposed for the elevation of Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, Patna High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Karol, Manipur High Court Chief Justice P V Sanjay Kumar, and senior advocate K V Viswanathan to the top court.