Two Collegium members block CJI move to appoint new Supreme Court judges

Two members of the Supreme Court Collegium have objected to a letter sent by Chief Justice of India UU Lalit seeking consent to appoint four judges to the apex court.

CJI Lalit had in an unprecedented move written a letter to his fellow judges in the five-member judge selection body seeking their consent for the elevations, of three sitting HC chief justices and a senior advocate practicing in SC.

The move was cleared by four members of the Collegium - Justices DY Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S Abdul Nazir and KM Joseph.


Justice Lalit, who had cited less than one month from retirement rule to prevent his predecessor Justice NV Ramana from getting Collegium nod for filling two vacant posts of SC judges, faces the same rule.

If the rule is applied, CJI Lalit will not be able to hold Collegium meetings after October 8 to deliberate and reach consensus on names for recommending to the government for filling the vacancies in SC.

He retires on November 8.

The SC reopens only on October 10, the earliest when Collegium could meet and by which time the ‘less than one month’ rule would kick in.