Neeraj Rohmetra
Jammu, Nov 25: Consensus eluded the Supreme Court collegium on the proposal for appointment of new Judges for Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
Knowledgeable sources told EXCELSIOR, “the senior Judges of the Apex Court, who comprised the collegium, had discussed the proposal on November 16 in view of the fact that the State High Court was facing shortage of Judges”.
“Among the names, which were discussed for the appointment included Sanjay Gupta (presently District and Sessions Judge, Jammu), Kaneez Fatima (former Registrar General), Advocates – G S Thakur, M S Latif and Mohammad Yousuf Bhat”, sources pointed out, adding, “it was mutually decided not to push the proposal at this stage due to lack of consensus”.
Sources said as per the convention, “before placing a name before the collegium, adequate material on antecedents, merit and capability of the person is collected from every possible source and there is free and frank exchange of views. If consensus eludes a particular name at any level, the proposal is shelved and not recommended to the Union Law Ministry.”
Elaborating further, sources said, “on the day of discussions, the SC collegium comprised Chief Justice of India, Justice T S Thakur, Justice Anil R Dave and Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar. However, two days later (November 18), Justice Dave got retired and now Justice Dipak Mishra has been inducted in the collegium”.
Earlier, on March 13 this year, when the State was under Governor’s rule, the High Court collegium had recommended a panel comprising eight persons for their appointment as Judges and submitted the same to the Governor, N N Vohra and the Union Law Ministry.
“The collegium headed by the Chief Justice, N Paul Vasanthakumar after consultation with senior Judges had sent confidential report to the Governor, Union Law Ministry and Supreme Court. However, Raj Bhavan after due consultation with legal experts forwarded the panel for appointment of Judges to the Union Law Ministry, with certain observations”, sources said.
“Raj Bhavan was not happy over the fact that no consultation procedure was followed while recommending the names and number of written complaints against some of the members in the panel were received”, sources asserted.
Subsequently, on April 27, Union Law Minister, Sadananda Gowda had returned the file pertaining to the appointment of Judges to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to the State with some serious observations. The Union Minister had made noting on the file that the proposal for appointment of new Judges needs to be reconsidered as a new political Government is in place.
Sources added, “Instru-ctions were issued by the Union Law Minister to send formal communication pertaining to the return of the Judges panel to the State Governor, N N Vohra; Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti and Chief Justice State High Court, Justice N. Paul Vasanthakumar”.
It is pertinent to mention here that the sanctioned strength of the J&K High Court is 17 Judges including Chief Justice, but presently there are only 10 Judges. These included Justice R Sudhakar, Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar, Justice Alok Aradhe, Justice Ali Mohd Magrey, Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur, Justice Tashi Rabstan, Justice Janak Raj Kotwal and Justice Bawa Singh Walia besides Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar.
As per the existing Memorandum of Procedure, the proposal for appointment of a High Court Judge has to be initiated by the Chief Justice of the High Court. However, if the Chief Minister desires to recommend the name of any person he or she can forward the same to the Chief Justice for his consideration.
Similarly, a copy thereof is also endorsed to the Chief Justice of India and the Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs to expedite consideration. The Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs would consider the recommendations in the light of such other reports as may be available to the Government in respect of the names under consideration.
The complete material is subsequently forwarded to the Chief Justice of India for his advice. The Chief Justice of India would, in consultation with the two senior most Judges of the Supreme Court, form his opinion in regard to a person to be recommended for appointment to the High Court. The Chief Justice of India and the collegium of two Judges of the Supreme Court would take into account the views of the Chief Justice of the High Court and of those Judges of the High Court who have been consulted by the Chief Justice as well as views of those Judges in the Supreme Court who are conversant with the affairs of that High Court.
“Tension between the Centre and judiciary over, who should have final control over the appointment of Judges in the Supreme Court and High Courts got flared up, with the CJI-headed apex collegium bruising aside the Government’s objection and reiterating its 43 picks for appointment as High Court Judges”, sources remarked.
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