Centre returns SC collegium's recommendation to elevate U'khand HC Chief Justice KM Joseph for non-accordance with parameters and adequate regional representation
The Centre sent a detailed note to Chief Justice Dipak Misra giving reasons to the SC collegium for its decision. Pics/AFP,PTI
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The government yesterday returned the collegium's recommendation to elevate Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K M 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.
Justifying its stand of returning the recommendation, the Centre sent a detailed note to Chief Justice Dipak Misra giving reasons to the Supreme Court collegium for its decision, including that seniority may not be an important consideration to ensure regional representation. The note of the Union Law Ministry, addressed to the CJI who heads the five-member apex court collegium, said the proposal to reconsider Justice Joseph's name had the approval of President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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On the acceptance of one of the two proposed names for elevation, the Centre said such segregation of proposals has been done in many cases earlier, including appointment of judges to various high courts and also to the Supreme Court in the interest of expeditious action of appointments and filling up vacancies.
Regarding judges in the top court from Kerala, it said that besides Justice Kurian Joseph who was elevated as a judge in the top court from the Kerala High Court on March 8, 2013, there were two other Chief Justices, Justices T B Radhakrishnan and Antony Dominic, whose parent high court was also the same. The note said at this stage, the elevation of one more judge from Kerala High Court as an apex court judge does not appear to be justified as it does not address the legitimate claims of the Chief Justices and puisne judges of many other high courts and "forestalls" the claim of other senior chief justices and puisne judges.
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