SC Collegium To Meet Today On Justice Joseph’s Elevation To The Top Court

The Supreme Court Collegium, consisting of the five senior-most judges, is expected to meet today to discuss the issue of the elevation of Justice K M Joseph to the apex court, Times of India has reported.

According to the report, the Collegium is likely to suggest Justice Jopesh’s name again. He is currently the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court.

“Historically, the Collegium has usually sent the same recommendation back even after the government suggested that it be reconsidered,” Hindustan Times quoted a government official as saying. “The issue here is whether seniority and regional representation should be allowed to take a back seat or not,” he added.

“The Collegium is well within its rights to send the same recommendation once more. But the government can sit over the proposal as no deadline has been fixed for it to approve the decision,” former Law Secretary TK Vishwanathan said.

Last month, the government had declined to accept the recommendation of the Collegium and asked it to reconsider his name. It had, however, accepted the proposal to elevate senior advocate Indu Malhotra to the Supreme Court.

One reason cited by the government for refusing to accept the Collegium's recommendation to appoint Justice Joseph to the apex court was that it would distort regional representation in the highest court. The top court already had a judge, Justice Kurian Joseph, from Kerala High Court. At least 10 High Courts - Calcutta, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, J&K, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Manipur and Meghalaya - have no representation in the apex court at present.

Moreover, Justice Joseph is 42nd in the All India High Court Judges’ Seniority List and 11 Chief Justices of various High Courts are senior to him.

In 2016, a bench headed by Justice Joseph had quashed the Modi government's decision to impose President's rule in the Congress-ruled Uttarakhand..