SC asks Centre to give names reiterated by Collegium for judgeship

New Delhi [India], September 20 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to give a list of names which was reiterated by the top court Collegium for judgeship in the higher judiciary which have not been processed yet.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud with justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked the Centre to make a list of names reiterated by the top court Collegium for judgeship in the higher judiciary and mention why they are not processed yet at what level they are pending.

The top court was dealing with the petitions related to processing of the Collegium resolutions by the Centre. Jharkhand Government is among the petitioners who have filed contempt proceedings against the Centre for not appointing the state High Court Chief Justice.

Attorney General R Venkatramani, who has sought adjournment in the matter, said that there are several reasons in relation to pending names. His reply was counter to the submission by the advocates appearing in this matter and raising questions on keeping the names pending for many months.

Jharkhand Government has filed the petition seeking contempt proceedings action against the Centre for not clearing the Collegium recommendation to appoint Justice MS Ramachandra Rao as the Chief Justice of the state High Court.

Jharkhand Government in the application said that Jharkhand High Court has been functioning under acting Chief Justice since last 9 months except for brief period of 15 days, when a regularly appointed Chief Justice B R Sarangi was appointed.

Jharkhand Government said that the state government is deeply concerned with the extraordinary delays in the appointment of Judges to the High Court of Jharkhand as well as the rest of the High Courts across the country, which is detrimental to the cherished principle of the independence of the judiciary.

The state government submitted that by these inordinate delays in the appointment of Chief Justices to the High Courts after the recommendation by the Collegium headed the Chief Justice of India, is a direct contravention of the judgment passed by the nine-judge bench in 1993.

“Direct the Contemnors to purge the Contempt in respect of the recommendation dated July 11 2024 made by the Collegium headed by the Chief Justice of India regarding appointment of the Chief Justice of the State of Jharkhand,” the plea by Jharkhand Government said.

Jharkhand Government said that it is a very dangerous precedent if the Executive confers upon itself the power to implement only those binding recommendations that are to its liking and choose not to implement the others. Jharkhand Government submitted that the failure to implement the binding decision of the Collegium headed by the Chief Justice of India, would amount to a wilful disobedience of the orders of the Supreme Court.