Apex court collegium may send Justice Joseph’s name once again to Centre

New Delhi: Even as controversy over the government’s rejection of Uttarakhand Chief Justice K M Joseph’s elevation to the Supreme Court has not died down, hints are coming that the apex court collegium may once again send to the Centre its recommendation over Justice Josheph’s elevation to the top court of the country.
“The collegium might have to reiterate its recommendation furnishing facts and figures, and citing precedent, which have not been put in perspective by the government when it returned his name,” Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph was quoted by an English daily as saying. The collegium will meet on Wednesday.
On April 26, the Narendra Modi government had returned the collegium’s recommendation for Justice K M Joseph’s elevation for reconsideration, while accepting the apex court’s recommendation for the elevation of senior lawyer Indu Malhotra to the top court.
The government had cited several reasons for sending back the collegium’s recommendations over Justice Joseph’s elevation and they included: Justice Joseph’s being at 42 number in the All India High Court Judges’ seniority list; Justice Joseph’s parent court, the Kerala High Court has adequate representation in the Supreme Court; several High Courts are not represented In the Supreme Court at present and that there is no representation of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe in the Supreme Court since long.