SC collegium returns to govt judges’ names

New Delhi: Madras High Court Chief Justice AK Ganguly, Patna HC Chief Justice RM Lodha and Kerala HC Chief Justice HL Dattu will be the new judges of the Supreme Court, while there is a strong possibility of two more appointments. The way for their elevation has been cleared, with the SC collegium headed by Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan brushing aside objections raised by the government to reendorse them for appointment to the top court. At present, the SC is functioning with 21 judges against the sanctioned strength of 26. The PMO had sent the collegium’s recommendation back to the SC panel by saying that Delhi HC Chief Justice AP Shah, Madhya Pradesh HC Chief Justice AK Patnaik and Uttarakhand HC Chief Justice VK Gupta were senior to Justices Dattu, Lodha and Ganguly. Govt has no choice but to appoint judges New Delhi: The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan brushed aside objections raised by the government with regard to the appointment of Madras High Court Chief Justice A K Ganguly, Patna HC Chief Justice R M Lodha and Kerala HC Chief Justice H L Dattu as new judges at the top court. The reiteration of the choice leaves the government with no choice — in the light of the SC’s judgment in the Judges Association Case of 1993 and the advisory opinion it gave in 1998 — but to notify the appointments of Chief Justices Dattu, Lodha and Ganguly. The collegium said they were “most appropriate”. The SC panel also stressed the need to give representation to different HCs. Though it offered to consider others on the panel for the remaining two vacancies, it remained unimpressed by the “seniority” consideration brandished by the government to question its picks and is sure to assert its pre-eminence while filling the two remaining vacancies. There is no timeframe prescribed for the PM and the President to issue the appointment orders. The feeling in the collegium is that the government raised the bogey of seniority and supersession to split the ranks of the judiciary, highly placed sources told TOI. This was not the first time when the seniority consideration had not been followed. Even Justice Balakrishnan was superseded many times and judges much junior to him were appointed to the SC as judges ahead of him. Though Justice Balakrishnan was appointed as an HC judge in 1985, he was superseded by Justices S Rajendra Babu, R C Lahoti and Y K Sabharwal — all of whom went on to become CJI before him. While Justice Babu became a judge in 1988, Justices Lahoti and Sabharwal were appointed to the HCs in 1989 and 1987 respectively. The ‘supersession’ has occurred for Justices Shah, Patnaik and Gupta earlier too, the sources said. Justice Balakrishnan had said the judiciary didn’t maintain an all-India seniority list of HC judges and that it was being done on the statewise seniority list. Appointments to the apex court were being done as per the state quota, he had said.

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