SC collegium agrees to reiterate Justice Joseph's name for elevation to top court

The Supreme Court collegium on Friday agreed to reiterate Uttarakhand high court chief justice KM Joseph's name for elevation to the top court. However, the final decision will be taken on May 16 when the Collegium will meet again to discuss the issue.

The Collegium on Friday agreed in principle to send back Justice Joseph's name for elevation. The collegium constitutes CJI Dipak Misra, Justice Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice M B Lokur and Justice Kurian Joseph. It had previously met on May 2 but deferred its decision on the matter.

The judges will also consider more names for the apex court judgeship in its next meeting.

The government had on April 26 returned the collegium's recommendation to elevate Justice Joseph seeking its reconsideration, saying the proposal was not in accordance with the top court's parameters and there was adequate representation of Kerala in the higher judiciary from where he hails. It had also questioned his seniority for elevation as a judge of the apex court.

It is pertinent to mention that Justice J Chelameswar, the senior-most judge of the apex court, had on Wednesday written a letter to the CJI asking him to convene the collegium's meeting to urgently forward Justice Joseph's name to the Centre.

Justice Chelameswar, in his letter sent to the CJI late last evening, has conveyed that he was reiterating his decision for the elevation of Justice Joseph as the judge of the top court as there was no change in the circumstances that had led the collegium to recommend his name to the government on January 10.