Now, Assam opposes judges’ centralised selection

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 21

In what could be an embarrassment to the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, the party’s governments of Madhya Pradesh and Assam on Monday took diametrically opposite stands before the Supreme Court on the issue of proposed centralised mechanism for appointment of subordinate court judges across India.

While Shivraj Singh Chouhan Government supported the idea, the Sarbananda Sonowal government vehemently opposed it.

“If the proposal is accepted, the HC would be left with performing mere ministerial work of formally recommending the candidates selected by the Central Selection Committee to the Governor for appointment,” Senior counsel Vijay Hansaria, who represented both the Assam Government and the Gauhati HC, told a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar.

As the CJI said the issue had been discussed with HC Chief Justices in Delhi on July 22, Hansaria denied the Gauhati HC Chief Justice was part of any such deliberation. However, on behalf of the Madhya Pradesh Government, senior counsel Harish Salve supported the proposal for a centralised mechanism for selection of subordinate court judges as at would help make rule of law a reality.