New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a plea by Attorney General Milon K. Banerjee that the Centre be allowed to appoint in the first instance six persons, whose names were already cleared, as Madras High Court judges.

A Bench told Mr. Banerjee that the apex court collegium cleared 17 names on August 25itself. "We don't want any piecemeal appointment as it will create a lot of problems, including [in] seniority. Whatever appointment comes [by December 9], let it come but there shall be only one notification for the appointment."

The Bench, comprising Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice C.K. Thakker, was hearing two petitions filed by the Madras High Court Advocates Association and its president, S. Prabhakaran, and the Revenue Bar Association (RBA) and its president, Aravind Datar, seeking a direction to the Centre to expedite the appointments.

Six names cleared

Responding to last week's direction, Mr. Banerjee told the Bench, "We have cleared six names. Regarding 11 others, some more enquiry is required to be done whether the person is desirable or not."

Senior counsel Soli Sorabjee, appearing for the RBA, said, "After the apex court collegium has cleared the 17 names, it is not possible to have selective forwarding of names for appointment." He wondered why there should be any Intelligence Bureau enquiry after the collegium had cleared the names.

Senior counsel K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the MHAA, said, "There are apex court judgments fixing a time frame for appointment of judges. This time frame has not been adhered to."

When Mr. Banerjee wanted to know whether the government could go ahead with the appointment of six judges, Mr. Justice Sabharwal said, "Till two days ago, there was no fresh material against the 11 persons. Then where is the question of fresh enquiry? If there is any new material, which was not before us, then produce it."

The Chief Justice said, "The recommendations have been pending for three months. If six names are appointed in the first instance, it will change the entire composition. All have to be appointed altogether, otherwise it will create various problems."

Mr. Banerjee said the recommendations had been pending consideration at various levels since January.

Mr. Venugopal said if only six persons were appointed, there would be the problem of seniority, and it was possible that some might even withdraw their consent to become judges. "Our fear is political consideration is entering at every stage." There were 131 judge vacancies in various High Courts and over 34 lakh cases pending disposal.

Mr. Justice Sabharwal told Mr. Banerjee, "There should not be any delay in these matters. The government should be more sensitive to these issues. See the situation. There are only 20 judges out of a strength of 49. For Madurai, there are only four out of seven judges. See the plight of those who are in jail and whose bail matters could not be taken up. The High Court must have a reasonable strength of judges to have effective functioning. Today, it [the High Court] is hardly functioning."

The Bench, while adjourning the hearing to December 9, expressed the hope that the Government would complete the appointments in the interim and set at rest the controversy.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail