Justice joseph sc elevation row

Justice Joseph SC elevation row: Cong says Modi's revenge politics in play Days after a row over the Opposition's bid to impeach CJI Dipak Misra, govt has sent back Uttarakhand Chief Justice K M Joseph's name, even as it has accepted Indu Malhotra's elevation as an SC judge

The Narendra Modi-led central government on Thursday sent back for reconsideration the Supreme Court collegium’s recommendation for the elevation of Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K M Joseph to the apex court. The collegium had recommended the names of Joseph and senior advocate Indu Malhotra for elevation to the Supreme Court.

The latter’s elevation was accepted.Now, the collegium can either withdraw its recommendation on Joseph or choose to stick to it – in the latter case, it will be binding on the government to accept.Earlier in the day, even as the recommendation had been on hold, the Congress party had said PM Modi's "revenge politics" against the judiciary and "conspiratorial suffocation" of the Supreme Court had been exposed again.

Here are the top 10 developments around Indu Malhotra's likely elevation to SC and the sending back of Chief Justice Joseph's name to the Supreme Court collegium: 1) Modi indulging in 'revenge politics', says Congress' Surjewala: The Congress on Thursday accused Modi of indulging in "revenge politics" by "refusing" to clear the elevation of Justice Joseph to the Supreme Court. The "judiciary is under the most vicious attack ever" and "totalitarianism will stump democracy" if the nation does not rise now, Congress communications in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged.

2) Indu Malhotra set to be SC judge; Justice Joseph's name sent back for review: The government cleared the appointment of senior advocate Indu Malhotra as a judge of the Supreme Court. She will be the first woman Supreme Court judge to be appointed directly from the bar.

3) Govt did not consult CJI Misra: In giving its nod to Malhotra's elevation and sending back Joseph's name, the government decided to "unilaterally" segregate the names sent by the apex court's collegium, without consulting CJI Misra, News18 reported on Thursday. The term "segregation" here refers to proceeding with one recommendation and not on the other.

4) Collegium disregarded seniority: The government feels that while recommending the name of Justice Joseph, the collegium has disregarded seniority and regional representation. He is 42nd in seniority among the 669 high court judges.

5) Legal experts warned govt over unilateral segregation: Sources told news agencies that when legal experts were asked whether the collegium's recommendation could be segregated, they reminded the government of a letter written by then Chief Justice of India R M Lodha in June 2014, in which he had made it clear that the executive could not segregate recommendations without prior approval of the collegium.

6) Justice Joseph 'more deserving' than other chief justices, says SC: While recommending the name of Justice Joseph for the top court, the collegium had said that he was "more deserving and suitable in all respects than other chief justices and senior puisne judges of high courts for being appointed as judge of the Supreme Court of India".

7) SC judges urge CJI to hold full court on institutional issues: In a joint letter, judges Ranjan Gogoi and M B Lokur, two senior judges of the Supreme Court, have urged the CJI to hold a full court to discuss the institutional issues plaguing the higher judiciary.

The letter was written a day before Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu rejected the Opposition’s impeachment notice against CJI Misra. The issue raised in the letter is understood to have come up on Monday morning at a tea meeting attended by all the judges which delayed the start of the day's court proceedings by about 15 minutes.

8) Gogoi and Lokur's letter comes after Chelameswar and Kurian Joseph's missives: The same issue – urging the CJI to hold a full court regarding institutional matters – was for

the first time raised by Justice J Chelameswar on March 21. This was followed by a similar missive on April 9 by Justice Kurian Joseph, who had sought the setting up of a Bench of seven senior-most judges to deal with the issues plaguing the top court.

9) What is a full court meeting? A full court meeting of the Supreme Court, involving all judges, is usually convened by the CJI when a matter of public importance related to the judiciary comes up, according to convention.

10) Justice Kurian Joseph calls for 'surgical intervention': Irked over the government's delay in clearing the collegium's recommendation to elevate Justice K M Joseph and advocate Indu Malhotra to the apex court, Justice Kurian Joseph had written to the CJI contending that the "very life and existence" of the institution was "under threat" and a "surgical intervention" was required.

ARTICLE SOURCE- BUSINESS STANDARD.