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Delay in missive on CJI casts its shadow on collegium meet
The last-ditch effort by the CJI faced quiet opposition from a senior member of the collegium, which consists of the first five judges in the top court, the people added.
New Delhi: The Union law ministry on Wednesday wrote to Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana on Wednesday to name his successor, but the customary missive has come unusually late, casting a long shadow on meetings of the Supreme Court collegium at time when it needs to take some key decisions on vacancies in the top court and the appointment of chief justices of high courts.
People aware of the matter said that, earlier on Wednesday, a deadlock compelled CJI Ramana to jettison a plan for a substantive collegium meeting, leaving it to his successor to preside over the next meeting of the collegium. The last-ditch effort by the CJI faced quiet opposition from a senior member of the collegium, which consists of the first five judges in the top court, the people added.
Justice Ramana retires on August 26, and justice Uday U Lalit is set to take over as the next CJI.
Apart from the CJI, other members of the SC collegium are justices Lalit, Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and SA Nazeer.
As a matter of convention, the Union law ministry writes to CJI a little over a month before the latter’s retirement, seeking the name of his or her successor. The incumbent then writes back, sending the recommendation to the ministry 30 days before his retirement. Customarily, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court is appointed the CJI.
But a delay by the Union law ministry in writing to CJI Ramana held up the collegium meetings, said the people cited in the first instance, adding that some of the collegium members did not approve of the holdup. The collegium meeting did happen on Wednesday, but barely lasted minutes.
In the Second Judges Case in 1993, the top court held that appointment to the office of CJI should be of the most senior judge of the Supreme Court “considered fit to hold the office”. Subsequently, a memorandum of procedure (MoP) was framed to guide appointment and transfers of judges in the constitutional courts. This drew from the 1993 verdict to state that appointment to the office of CJI should be of the most senior judge of the Supreme Court considered fit to hold the office.
“The Union Minister of Law and Justice would, at the appropriate time, seek the recommendation of the outgoing CJI of India for the appointment of the next CJI...After receipt of the recommendation of CJI, the Union Minister of Law and Justice will put up the recommendation to the Prime Minister who will advise the President in the matter of appointment,” read the MoP.
However, the law ministry, this time, has delayed the letter seeking CJI Ramana’s recommendation, which in turn, has delayed the process of naming justice Lalit as the next CJI. According to people in the know, the delay by the ministry was not taken too kindly by some collegium members who preferred deferring the meeting until the next CJI (justice Lalit) takes over.
The Wednesday meeting, the people cited above told HT, remained a formality that ended within a few minutes without any detailed discussion on appointments to the Supreme Court where three vacancies exist, or appointments and transfers of high court judges. It was resolved to defer the meeting to a later date when the new CJI takes over.
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The Wednesday meeting followed a 75 minute-collegium meeting on Tuesday that also remained inconclusive. The CJI then decided to call a meeting again on Wednesday to deliberate further on the resolutions but to no avail.
The Supreme Court will have 30 judges with CJI Ramana’s retirement against a sanctioned strength of 34.
Justice Lalit is expected to be sworn in as the 49th CJI on August 27 and will have a short tenure of less than three months. Justice Lalit is only the second judge after justice SM Sikri to be elevated directly from the bar who will go on to become CJI. Justice Sikri was CJI between 1971 and 1973. Justice Lalit was appointed a judge in the Supreme Court in August 2014.
