New Delhi: The Supreme Court collegium headed by CJI Dipak Misra on Friday unanimously decided to reiterate its earlier recommendation to elevate Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K.M. Joseph as a judge of the apex court.
With the collegium likely to assert its authority over the appointment of Supreme Court judges, this is expected to result in a major confrontation with the Centre, that has expressed its reservations on Justice Joseph’s choice for the apex court.
The resolution uploaded on the Supreme Court website says the collegium met to consider reiteration of the recommendation dated January 10, 2018 for elevation of Justice K.M. Joseph, Chief Justice, Uttarakhand HC, as a judge of the Supreme Court; and to consider the names of HC judges for elevation as judges of the Supreme Court.”
The Chief Justice and other members of the collegium have, on principle, unanimously agreed that the recommendation for appointment of Justice Joseph as a judge of the Supreme Court should be reiterated. But this should also be accompanied by the recommendation of the names of (other) chief justices of high courts for elevation as judges of the Supreme Court. It was decided that the collegium would meet again May 16.
Sources said the meeting unanimously rejected the Centre’s stand on not accepting Joseph’s elevation and decided to send a detailed response to Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s letters of April 26 and 30 to the CJI.
