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The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed its concern on the Centre's approach in clearing the name for judicial appointment as it noted that recent appointment was done "selectively."
The apex court expressed disapproval of the 'pick and choose' approach adopted by the Central Government in selectively accepting names from the collegium resolutions for judges' appointments. A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia said, "Selectively picking and choosing for the appointment is the problem." The court said that it hopes the situation does not arise for the collegium and the court to take a decision that is not palatable. The court said that if the appointment is done "selectively" then it disturbs the seniority level. During today's hearing, the bench orally deprecated the Centre's practice of 'segregating' collegium recommendations, which resulted in the inter-se seniority of judicial nominees being disturbed. The court said that there are five names that are pending despite being reiterated adding that pending names need to be addressed. Attorney General R Venkatramani submitted that there shall be a discussion with the government and listed the matter for further hearing on November 20. The court also expressed its concern on the issue of transfer. Senior Advocate Arvind Datar urged the court to lay down the guidelines. Advocate Prashant Bhushan said that the time has come for the top court to crack the whip otherwise the govt is getting an impression that it can get away with it and urged the top court to summon the law minister for contempt. The lawyer said that there are instances where reiterations were made several years ago. Earlier the Supreme Court had expressed its concern on the issue of keeping the list of the transfers of judges of the high courts pending with the Centre. The court was dealing with the petition against the Centre for keeping the Collegium-recommended names of judges for their appointment in the various High courts and Supreme Court pending. One of the petitions was filed by the Advocates Association of Bengaluru seeking to initiate contempt action against the Union Ministry of Law and Justice for not following the timeline for clearing judicial appointments recommended by the collegium. Along with the Advocates Association of Bengaluru, the court was also dealing with NGO Common Cause petition raising the issue of delay in judicial appointments. (ANI)
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