Enough has already been said about the Centre’s unwillingness to see Chief Justice of Uttarakhand high court, Justice K M Joseph, being elevated as a Supreme Court judge as per the recommendation of the SC Collegium. It is best to resolve this issue without any further delay to ensure that there are no more arguments and counter arguments on this issue because it is affecting the image of the apex court and judiciary in general.
Keeping aside what Congress and other Opposition leaders have to say, if one goes by what judges themselves have said or believe in, there is need for the Centre to take a fresh look into the issue and back out gracefully. The latest to speak out on the issue is none other than a member of the Collegium, Justice Kurian Joseph, who has termed the Centre’s decision to send back the Collegium’s recommendation for the elevation of Justice K M Joseph as a judge of the top court as unprecedented. The Centre should heed to the words of Justice Kurian when he says that there is no precedent of the names recommended by the collegiums being returned (by the Centre).
Already the issue has created a discord in the Collegium with unanimity missing on the issue of the elevation of Justice Joseph, which is not a good sign. The five-member Collegium comprising Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, met on May 2 after the apex court’s working hours, but no decision was taken as certain differences between the members could not be resolved.
Now, Justice Kurian Joseph goes on to say that things that should not have happened had happened – that is the general feeling. Political class may think otherwise but educated public in general is keeping track of what is going on in the apex court. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the Collegium is supreme when it comes to appointment of judges.
However, it is for the Collegium to decide quickly and unanimously on the issue before more dirt is raked up by vested interests. Ultimately the most important thing is to ensure that the faith of people is not shaken when it comes to Supreme Court and judiciary in general and the procrastination on the issue of Justice K M Joseph is doing just the opposite. A large number of legal experts and judges, including former CJI RM Lodha and former Delhi HC Chief Justice AP Shah, had suggested that the Collegium should have immediately reiterated Justice KM Joseph’s name but, despite this, no decision was taken when the Collegium met on May 2.
While some former judges have restricted themselves to the issue at hand and the power of the Collegium, former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju has gone a step ahead and said that he feels that the process of appointing the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court as the Chief Justice of India should be done away with as this “convention has proved to be defective”. “The senior-most judge may be a man of integrity but may be mediocre… He should be superseded and a judge next in seniority or one even lower down in seniority, if outstanding (as borne out from his judgments), should be made Chief Justice of India,” Katju says in his book — Whither Indian Judiciary.
No doubt as time passes by, more theories will emerge and more voices will be heard on this issue even as there is news that a decision is likely to be taken by the Collegium next week. One can only hope that the Collegium takes the right decision and does not get swayed by what the Centre wants because enough damage was done to the judiciary during Congress rule when during the Emergency, the party had engineered the supersession of three judges in foisting a judge with dubious credentials as the Chief Justice of India. This time around the Collegium has to be careful that political pressure does not make them commit a wrong.
