- By Radha Basnet
- Tue, 26 Sep 2023 03:48 PM (IST)
- Source:ANI
The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed its concerns over the delay in the appointment of judges in various High Courts. The Central Government's failure to act on several collegium recommendations for the appointment and transfer of High Court judges, including the appointment of the Chief Justice of a sensitive High Court has once more drawn the attention of the top court.
Expressing its concern to Attorney General of India R Venkataramani, a bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said that the seventy collegium recommendations made by the Supreme Court Collegium from November 11, 2022, are pending with the Union Government.
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Justice Kaul remarked that nothing has happened in the last seven months since it heard the plea last and asked the Attorney General to take instructions from the Central Government on the issue.
The court also asked the Centre about why the names of judges from different High Courts proposed by the Collegium had not been approved.
The court's notice to the Centre in the contempt petition last November sparked a dispute between the judiciary and the executive over judicial appointments. After this case was brought up, the then-Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju openly questioned the legitimacy of the collegium system on a number of public platforms.
The comments from the Law Minister did not go down well with the Court, which on its judicial side expressed dismay and urged the top law officers to advise the Centre to observe the law established by the Court regarding judicial appointments.
