Government bound to appoint Justice K M Joseph if collegium reiterates: Experts

NEW DELHI: The government would be bound to appoint Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K M Joseph as a Supreme Court judge if the collegium reiterates its recommendation, legal experts opine.

Former High Court judges S N Dhingra, Ajit Sinha and senior advocates Vikas Singh and Dushyant Dave were concurrent in their opinion that it would be binding on the government to elevate Justice Joseph to the apex court if the collegium sticks to its recommendation.

All of them were categorial that if any name on reconsideration is cleared, the government has to act on it.


However, they said there was no mention of any time frame for the government to implement the collegium's recommendation.

All of them said the government has to follow the guidelines laid down by the apex court in 1993 and 1998 judgement, referred as second and third judges case relating to appointment of judges to the higher judiciary.

The third judges case -- a presidential reference of 1998 -- has a relevant para which reads, "However, if after due consideration of the reasons disclosed to the Chief Justice of India, that recommendation is reiterated by the Chief Justice of India with the unanimous agreement of the Judges of the Supreme Court consulted in the matter, with reasons for not withdrawing the recommendation, then that appointment as a matter of healthy convention ought to be made."

Earlier in the day, the government returned the collegium's recommendation to elevate Justice Joseph as a Supreme Court judge, saying the proposal was not in accordance with the top court's parameters and there was adequate representation of Kerala in the higher judiciary from where he hails.