Collegium Stand Off: Fresh Recommondation of 2 Judges sends to GOI, But Fractured…!

The Supreme Court collegium on Tuesday recommended elevation of chief justice Rajesh Bindal of Allahabad high court and chief justice Aravind Kumar of the Gujarat high court to the Supreme Court. The collegium, perhaps for the first time, this is a fractured recommondatin as one of the five judge have objection on the name of Justice Arvinda Kumar for eleveation. Simultenously Collegium gave elaborate reasons for recommending the elevations. It also asked the Centre to notify recommendations made on December 13 first.

A Fractured Collegium

The collegium resolution said that while recommending the elevation, a host of aspects were taken into consideration. The aspects given were, “seniority of chief justices and senior puisne judges in their parent high courts and overall seniority of HC judges; the merit, performance and integrity of the judges under consideration.”

Other aspects included, “the need to ensure diversity and inclusion in the Supreme Court by: representation of high courts which are not represented or are inadequately represented, in the Supreme Court; appointing persons from marginalised and Backward segments of society; gender diversity; and representation of minorities.”

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The resolution said that with regard to elevation of justice Bindal the 6-member collegium was unanimous, justice KM Joseph “expressed his reservations” on elevation of justice Kumar “on the ground that his name can be considered at a later stage.”

It said, “the collegium deliberated on and discussed the names of chief justices and senior puisne judges of the high courts eligible for appointment to the Supreme Court. Judgments authored by those falling in the zone of consideration for elevation to the Supreme Court were circulated among members of the collegium for a meaningful discussion on and assessment of their judicial acumen.”

The collegium said that the two names were recommended “after carefully evaluating the merit, integrity and competence of eligible chief justices and senior puisne judges of the high courts and also accommodating a plurality of considerations.”

On justice Bindal, the collegium said it “has taken into consideration the fact that the Punjab and Haryana high court, which is one of the largest high courts with a sanctioned strength of 85 judges, is not adequately represented on the bench of the Supreme Court”. On justice Kumar, the resolution said the “collegium is conscious of the fact that in the seniority of judges hailing from the Karnataka high court, justice Aravind Kumar stands at serial number 02 and that at present, the bench of the Supreme Court is represented by two judges from the Karnataka high court”.