Govt returns 10 names recommended for elevation by SC Collegium

New Delhi, Nov 28: The central government has sought reconsideration of Supreme Court collegium's recommendation for the appointment of high court judges, including that of advocate Saurabh Kirpal - a declared gay.

"The files, returned on November 25 includes the name of senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal, the son of former Chief Justice of India BN Kirpal," according to NDTV.

The government expressed "strong reservations" about the recommended names as it sent back the files to the collegium on November 25, sources aware of the procedure to appoint Supreme Court and high court judges said.

Out of the 20 cases, 11 were fresh cases and nine were reiterations made by the top court collegium, they said.

Kirpal's name was sent by the Delhi High Court Collegium to the collegium in October 2017 for elevation as a high court judge. But the top court collegium is learnt to have deferred deliberations on his name three times.

He had recently told NDTV that he believed the reason behind the limbo was his sexual orientation.

Justice Ramana's predecessor, then CJI S A Bobde had reportedly asked the government to send more information on Kirpal. Finally, the collegium headed by Justice Ramana took a decision in favour of Kirpal in November 2021.

The government has returned all the names related to fresh appointments in various high courts on which it had "differences" with the Supreme Court Collegium, the sources said.

The Supreme Court on Monday expressed anguish over the delay by the Centre in clearing the names recommended by the collegium for appointment as judges in the higher judiciary, saying it "effectively frustrates" the method of appointment.

A bench of Justices S K Kaul and A S Oka said a three-judge bench of the apex court had laid down the timelines within which the appointment process had to be completed. Those timelines, it said, have to be adhered to.

Justice Kaul observed that it appeared the government is unhappy with the fact that the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act did not pass the muster, but that cannot be a reason to not comply with the law of the land.

In its 2015 verdict, the supreme court had struck down the NJAC Act and the Constitution (99th Amendment) Act, 2014, leading to the revival of the Collegium system of existing judges appointing judges to constitutional courts.

with PTI inputs