SC rejects Centre's recommendations on judges' appointments

The main clause where the government said that it would have the right to reject any name for the appointment of judges to the high court citing national security has been rejected by the collegium.

No solution in sight as yet. The Supreme Court's collegium has rejected almost every clause introduced by the Union government while drafting the Memorandum of Procedure for the appointment of judges in the higher judiciary. The main clause where the government said that it would have the right to reject any name for the appointment of judges to the high court citing national security has been rejected by the collegium.

A meeting of the SC's collegium was held on March 10 to decide on the implementation of the MoP. During the meeting, several clauses considered to be contentious by the collegium were rejected and the same conveyed to the Centre on March 13 by Chief Justice J S Khehar.

During the discussions, the collegium was of the view that the power to reject an appointment citing national security had to be rejected. It was of the view that if the government provided sufficient proof in this regard then no collegium would go ahead and appoint the judge.

In the wake of these recommendations being rejected the collegium directed the Centre to finalise a new MoP. The new MoP would have to be finalised in consultation with the CJI. While the law ministry is still discussing this issue, there is no official statement from them on what the next course of action would be.

OneIndia News