SC Collegium rejects govt’s objection on elevation of two judges

New Delhi, May 09: The Supreme Court Collegium is learnt to have reiterated its decision on the elevation of two judges after the Centre had rejected the names.

The Collegium while rejecting the objections raised by the government reiterated its recommendation to elevate the two judges to the Supreme Court.

The decision comes after the government returned to the Collegium names of two high court chief justices recommended for elevation as judges of the Supreme Court.

On April 12, the Supreme Court collegium had recommended the names of Jharkhand high court Chief Justice Aniruddha Bose, and Gauhati high court Chief Justice A S Bopanna for elevation to the top court.

Seniority and representation of regions have been cited as reasons behind the government's decision.

While Justice Bose whose parent high court is Calcutta, is at number 12 in all-India seniority of judges, Justice Bopanna, whose parent high court is Karnataka, stands at number 36.

Last year, the government had returned Justice Bose's name to the collegium when he was recommended to head the Delhi high court.

"While recommending the names of Justices Aniruddha Bose and A S Bopanna, the collegium has taken into consideration, apart from their merit and integrity, combined seniority on all-India basis of chief justices and senior puisne judges of high courts.

"The collegium has also kept in mind the desirability of giving due representation on the bench of the Supreme Court, as far as possible, to all the high courts," the collegium resolution had read.

The Calcutta High Court is represented in the Supreme Court by Justice Indira Banerjee. Justices S M Mallikarjnagouda and S Abdul Nazeer represent the Karnataka HC.

At present, the Supreme Court has a working strength of 27. Its sanctioned strength is 31 judges, including the chief justice.