Law

‘Very life and existence’ of Supreme Court under threat: Justice Joseph writes to CJI

Justice Kurian Joseph has written to the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra that the “very life and existence” of the Supreme Court is under threat and “history will not pardon us,” if the court doesn’t respond to the government’s unprecedented act of sitting on the collegium’s recommendation to elevate a judge and a senior advocate to the apex court.

A report in the Indian Express said that in a strongly worded appeal, Justice Kurian Joseph said that “it is the first time in the history of this court where nothing is known as to what has happened to a recommendation after three months.” He urged the CJI to establish a bench of seven senior most judges to suo motu take up the matter of the government sitting on the two names.

He was referring to the collegium’s decision in February to recommend the names of senior advocate Indu Malhotra and Justice K M Joseph, Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court, for appointment as judges of the Supreme Court.

If this demand is accepted, it would, effectively, mean an open court hearing by seven seniormost judges of the Supreme Court who could pass orders asking the government to decide on the pending recommendations of the Collegium. They could even ask the government to issue the warrants for appointments of the judges within a stipulated time frame and failure to do so would make the government liable for contempt of court.

Click to comment
To Top