Supreme Court collegium defers Joseph decision again

Justice Joseph’s file had been sent back by the government last month, triggering a face-off between the executive and the judiciary.

For the third time in two weeks, the Supreme Court collegium deferred the decision to recommend the elevation of Uttarakhand chief justice KM Joseph and other high court judges to the top court.

AP File Photo

According to sources who were aware of developments, the five top judges of the court met on Wednesday evening but could not teach a decision on names to be sent to the government for elevation.

Justice Joseph’s file had been sent back by the government last month, triggering a face-off between the executive and the judiciary. The five are united in reiterating Joseph’s name, but the plan has been to recommend along with a clutch of other names.

The previous collegium meetings were held on May 2 and May 11.

The source quoted above confirmed that the collegium is likely to meet again either on Friday or the next week to take a call on the names.