Segregating collegium proposal: CJI Ranjan Gogoi raises issue with PM Modi

NEW DELHI: CJI Ranjan Gogoi is believed to have taken up at the highest levels the issue of the law and justice ministry splitting up proposals and selectively withholding names of some of the advocates recommended by the Supreme Court collegium for appointment as judges of high courts, said people aware of the matter.

ET has reliably gathered that Justice Gogoi has also raised it with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in one of their conversations. “The splitting up of recommendations is a matter of serious concern, and the CJI has taken it up with the PM,” said one of the persons, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “In the recent past, the law and justice ministry has withheld the names of at least 12 proposals recommended by the collegium.” Now, the person said, the collegium, headed by Gogoi, is set to review all cases where the names cleared by it were held back by the ministry, and also those proposals which were reiterated but are still pending with the government for issuance of warrant of appointment.

The collegium is the appointing authority for judges. After receiving the names from state high courts, and after following a due process, it forwards the names to the government for issuance of warrant of appointment. It considers merit, legal acumen, integrity and IB reports of candidates, before recommending their names for appointment as high court judges.


Legal experts said that by segregating names and selectively clearing some of the recommendations, the ministry is attempting to usurp the SC’s power to appoint judges and also tinker with their seniority. A case in point was that of Justice KM Joseph. The ministry lowered his seniority and placed him below justices Indu Malhotra, Indira Banerjee and Vineet Saran.

On January 10, the collegium had recommended that Justice Joseph and senior advocate Indu Malhotra be appointed as judges of the SC. However, the names were segregated by the law ministry and Justice Malhotra, then a senior advocate, administered oath of office in April. However, Justice Joseph’s appointment was delayed, and he was administered oath in August, after justices Indira Banerjee and Vineet Saran, thereby placing him below them in order of seniority.

One of the cases which will be reviewed by the collegium after Diwali is that of judge Krishna Bhat, which was reiterated by the collegium but not cleared by government, said the people cited earlier. Two chief justices of Karnataka had probed a complaint against Bhat and given him a clean chit.

Meanwhile, enquiries revealed that the ministry has split up proposals of high courts including those of Delhi, Punjab & Haryana, Calcutta and Madras.

ET reviewed some of the recommendations made by the collegium which were selectively held back by the government, without assigning any reasons. On September 4, the collegium had recommended names of advocates Jyoti Singh, Prateek Jalan, Anup Jairam Bhambhani, Sanjeev Narula and Manoj Kumar Ohri to be appointed as judges of the Delhi HC. The government cleared four names but held back senior advocate Manoj Ohri’s name.

On October 9, the collegium recommended that advocates VG Arun, N Nagaresh and PV Kunnikrishnan be appointed as judges of the Kerala HC. In this case, the law ministry held back PV Kunnikrishnan’s appointment. On November 1, it notified appointments of Nagaresh and Arun as judges of the Kerala HC. In August, the collegium had reiterated names of advocates Sanjay Kumar Medhi and Nani Tagia to be appointed as judges of the Guwahati HC, but the government has still not approved their appointments.

Earlier, in April 2017, the collegium had recommended seven advocates for elevation to the Punjab & Haryana HC. However, after appointment of six advocates, the proposal in respect of Harnaresh Singh Gill was referred back to the CJI for reconsideration and without giving any reason. The collegium also mentioned in its resolution that “no reason has been given why his appointment was withheld”. “Even now, no adverse material has been placed in the file,” it said. On August 1, the collegium reiterated its recommendation “for appointment of Shri Harnaresh Singh Gill, advocate as a judge of Punjab & Haryana High Court, which needs to be processed expeditiously”.

Till date, the ministry has not given effect to his warrant of appointment.

Earlier, on January 10, the collegium recommended Justice Suryakant’s name for appointment as chief justice of Himachal Pradesh HC. The collegium, along with recommending him, cleared 10 proposals for appointment of chief justices. These recommendations were notified by the government but Suryakant’s name was not approved.

It was only on October 3 — after Gogoi took over as the CJI — that the government decided to clear Justice Suryakant’s appointment.

Similarly, in the case of recommendations to Calcutta HC, the collegium, on September 11, cleared the names of advocate Sandipan Ganguly and judicial officers Bibek Chaudhuri, Madhumati Mitra and Subhasis Dasgupta to be appointed as high court judges. However, Ganguly’s name was held back by the ministry and other recommendations notified.

Also, the name of advocate Mohammed Nizamuddin, again from Calcutta HC, recommended to be elevated was returned by the government without assigning any reason. In August, the collegium reiterated its recommendation for the elevation of advocates C Emalias and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy as Madras HC judges, but the warrant of appointment was not issued.