New Delhi: Sparks flew in the Supreme Court on Friday as the blame game between the judiciary and the executive over delay in sending recommendations and appointing judges to high courts came out in the open.
Justice Lokur said “non-recommendation did not give the Centre the liberty to sit over names that have been sent to it long back. We want to know as to how many collegium proposals are pending with the government.”
The top court’s remarks assume significance as the Centre, after almost three months of Collegium’s recommendation, returned for reconsideration the file of Uttarakhand HC Chief Justice K.M. Joseph for elevation as an apex court judge. The exchange of words between the bench and government’s top law officer took place when the court took up a transfer petition filed by a resident of Manipur.
The petitioner who lost a case before a single judge bench in Manipur has approached the top court to allow him to challenge the order against him before the Guwahati HC. The petitioner said he could not file an appeal in Manipur HC because there are only two judges there, one of whom had delivered the judgment against him. There is no full time chief justice in Manipur too when he filed the petition.
