Collegium should immediately reiterate its proposed name: Congress

NEW DELHI:The Congress has said the collegium must reiterate its recommendation for elevation of Uttarakhand chief justice KM Joseph to the Supreme Court and not send a fresh recommendation along with more names for elevation.

Taking a skeptical view on the Supreme Court collegium deferring a decision on the issue last Wednesday, after the Centre returned the recommendation for elevating Justice KM Joseph, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi also warned the Centre against adopting “cleverby-half” methods to delay or block the judge’s elevation.

“We call upon the collegium to uphold the majesty of judicial independence. Not only should the collegium immediately reiterate the recommendation for the elevation of Justice Joseph, it should also seek an explanation from the government on why it sat on the recommendation for a long time,” Singhvi said at an official AICC briefing in New Delhi on Friday.


Singhvi’s assertion that the collegium should ensure that it was a reiteration and not a fresh proposal comes in the wake of reports that the agenda before the deferred collegium meeting included responding to the government pitch for social and regional considerations in appointment of judges.

Sources in the Congress said the party was of the view that if the collegium clubs Joseph’s name along with fresh recommendations for elevation, it would leave scope for the government to interpret it as a ‘fresh recommendation’ and return it or sit on it, as it had done to the January 12 recommendations.