New Delhi: The Supreme Court collegium today unanimously agreed “in principle” to reiterate the recommendation for the elevation of Uttarakhand high court Chief Justice K.M. Joseph as a judge of the apex court, after his name was returned by the Centre the first time it was recommended.The five-member collegium, comprising Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M.B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph, after an hour-long deliberation decided that Justice Joseph’s name should be accompanied with the recommendation of the names of chief justices of high courts for elevation as judges of the Supreme Court.The collegium, in a resolution, said there was a need for further discussion on the issue of sending other names to the Centre and deferred its meeting till May 16.“The Chief Justice and other members of the Collegium have, on principle, unanimously agreed that the recommendation for appointment of Justice K.M. Joseph, Chief Justice, Uttarakhand High Court [Parent High Court: Kerala] as a Judge of the Supreme Court should be reiterated.“However, the said reiteration should also be accompanied by the recommendation of the names of Chief Justices of high courts for elevation as judges of the Supreme Court, for which detailed discussion is required,” the resolution said.“In view of the aforesaid, the meeting stands deferred for being held at 4.15 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2018,” it said.At its last meeting on May 2, the collegium disclosed that its agenda included, besides the elevation of Justice K.M. Joseph, considering “the names of judges from Calcutta, Rajasthan, and Telangana & Andhra Pradesh High Courts for elevation as Judges of the Supreme Court, in view of the concept of fair representation.”Tasking the two statements together, this would mean the collegium is considering the names of Pradeep Nadrajoj, Jyotirmay Bhattacharya and Ramesh Ranganathan, who are, respectively the chief justices of the Rajasthan, Calcutta and the Andhra-Telangana high courts.The controversy over executive interference in the judiciary deepened after the Narendra Modi government elevated senior advocate Indu Malhotra to the post of a Supreme Court judge while keeping mum on the other name of Uttarakhand high court Chief Justice K.M. Joseph. In 2016, Justice Joseph had ruled that the Centre’s decision to impose President’s rule in Uttarakhand was unconstitutional. Since then, the Centre has been sitting on the Collegium’s recommendations to transfer him to Andhra Pradesh and elevate him to the Supreme Court.(With PTI inputs)
