Govt flags collegium move to end addl judges’ evaluation

New Delhi, October 22

The government has red-flagged a decision of the Supreme Court collegium to do away with the professional evaluation of additional judges while recommending their name for promotion as permanent judge.

The decision of the collegium and the subsequent opposition to the move by the Law Ministry could trigger a fresh round of confrontation between the executive and the judiciary.

A senior functionary said the government had told the collegiums — a body of top five judges of the apex court headed by the Chief Justice of India — that it did not agree with the decision to end the practice of evaluating the professional performance of an additional judge before recommending his or her name for evaluation as a permanent judge of a high court.

The judgments evaluation committees used to evaluate the judicial performance of additional judges till recently.

The government has urged the collegium to have a relook at its decision to end the practice of evaluating the judicial performance of additional judges.

The then CJI JS Khehar had in March informed high court chief justices that the Supreme Court collegium had decided to end the system. He had cited a 1981 judgment of the apex court to say that the practice of evaluating the judicial performance of additional judges ran contrary to the order. Justice Khehar had also informed Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad of the decision to do away with the system. — PTI