New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Friday told the Centre that the “Collegium is not a search committee” and there cannot be any discretion in accepting its reiterated recommendations.

“The Collegium is not a search committee. It has a certain status in the constitutional fabric. This is not a case of a search committee, where it makes a recommendation and there is an absolute discretion whether to accept or not,” a bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud told Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani, the highest law officer of the Centre.

The Bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, asked AG Venkataramani to file a chart indicating the status of reiterated recommendations and the difficulty in notifying those names.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan said that a large number of reiterated recommendations are pending with the Centre and should be notified immediately. Mr Bhushan added that apart from the above issue, the Centre “sits for years” on initial recommendations forwarded by the Collegium.

“Mr Attorney General, please tell us which are the reiterated names but remain pending and why are they pending? Give us a tabulated chart, and we will deal with it,” the top court said.

Adjourning the hearing for next week, the Supreme Court said, “Let’s wait for a little while. Some of these appointments are in the pipeline. We are expecting that appointments (of Chief Justices of several HCs) should come very shortly.”

“Ultimately, Mr Attorney General, the idea is not to unearth skeletons in the cupboard but to move forward. The business of governance must proceed,” added the CJI Chandrachud-led Bench.

On Thursday, the Centre urged the top court to “push for another week” the hearing on a batch of pleas concerning the delay in the appointment or transfer of judges in the higher judiciary.

“If the batch of petitions could be pushed for another week or so, I will be in a position to come back with something. Let it not be taken up tomorrow,” submitted AG Venkataramani.

At this, CJI Chandrachud said, “It will be on board because the causelist is already out. You can mention it tomorrow because the other side is not here.”

Presently, the committee comprising the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, commonly called the Collegium, sends the recommendation for the appointment of a judge to the top court as per the 1993 Second Judges Case.

The Collegium decides who will be appointed as a judge to the Supreme Court or a High Court. As per convention, the government is obliged to accept the Collegium’s recommendation if the decision has been reiterated. Commonly called “judges selecting judges”, in this system, judges are appointed and transferred only by judges.

In 2015, a five-judge Constitution Bench struck down the Centre’s idea of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) to replace the Collegium system.

Article 124(2) of the Constitution provides that “every Judge of the Supreme Court shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal after consultation with such of the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts in the States as the President may deem necessary for the purpose.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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New Delhi:

The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on Wednesday reiterated its recommendation to transfer Manipur High Court judge Justice MV Muralidaran to the Calcutta High Court for better administration of justice, rejecting his request to either shift him to his parent Madras High Court or not transfer him at all.

A bench of justice MV Muralidharan had on March 27 ordered the Manipur government to consider a representation by a Meitei organisation seeking scheduled tribe status, which was said to be the immediate trigger for the festering ethnic conflict in the state with Meiteis living in the valley on one side and Kuki and other tribals inhabiting the hills on the other.

Justice MV Muralidharan had directed the state government to consider the representation for ST status to the majority Meitei community and write to the Centre within four weeks.

The collegium, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai and Surya Kant, refused Justice MV Muralidaran’s request to transfer him to Madras High Court or permit him to continue to function in the High Court of Manipur instead of transferring him to Calcutta.

“On October 9, 2023, the Collegium proposed the transfer of Mr Justice M V Muralidaran, Judge, High Court of Manipur [PHC: Madras], to the High Court at Calcutta, for better administration of justice.

“In terms of the Memorandum of Procedure, we have consulted one of the judges of the Supreme Court who, being conversant with the affairs of the High Court of Manipur, is in a position to offer views on the proposed transfer,” it said.

The collegium said it considered the request made by Justice MV Muralidaran but did not find merit in them.

“The collegium, therefore, resolves to reiterate its recommendation dated October 9, 2023, to transfer Mr Justice M V Muralidaran to the High Court at Calcutta,” it said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)