Centre to provide to SC details of ‘sensitive material’ that’s delaying judicial appointments

Having said that some “sensitive material” was delaying forward movement on the Collegium’s July 11 recommendation for appointment of chief justices of seven high courts, the Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it will provide details about it next week.

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“I will be providing some details about the Collegium’s recommendations. Please list it after a week,” Attorney General R Venkataramani told a Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, seeking deferment of hearing on a PIL on judicial appointments filed by advocate Harsh Vibhore Singhal that was listed for hearing on Friday.

The Bench—which also included Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said the submissions for the adjournment could be made on Friday as the matter was already on board.

As the CJI pointed out that the Jharkhand Government has filed a contempt petition against the Centre for delay in appointing the Chief Justice in the state’s high court, Venkataramani said he was not aware of it.

The Jharkhand Government has moved the top court against the Centre for not clearing the recommendation made by the Collegium to appoint Justice MS Ramachandra Rao as the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court. Justice Rao is currently the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

The Centre and the Supreme Court have been at loggerheads over judicial appointments with the latter accusing the former of sitting over the Collegium’s recommendations. However, during the current CJI’s tenure things have moved rather smoothly, barring a few exceptions.

Days after the Centre told the top court that certain “sensitive information” available with it was delaying forward movement on the Collegium’s July 11 recommendation for appointment of high courts of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Madras and Meghalaya, the CJI-led Collegium on Tuesday had made changes in its earlier recommendation.

In supersession of its July 11 resolution, the Collegium on September 17 recommended Justice GS Sandhawalia, Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice Suresh Kumar Kait to be appointed as chief justices of high courts of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and Madhya Pradesh, respectively.

On July 11, the Collegium had made recommendations for appointment of chief justices of high courts of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Madras and Meghalaya.

However, on September 17, it recommended that Justice Tashi Rabstan of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh be appointed as the Chief Justice of his parent high court. Earlier, he was recommended to be appointed as the Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court.

The Collegium recommended Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji of the Calcutta High Court to be appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Meghalaya.

It had earlier recommended that Justice Rajiv Shakdher of the Delhi High Court be appointed as the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court on the transfer of the incumbent Chief Justice Rao.

Since Justice Shakdher is due to retire on October 18, 2024, the Collegium, in supersession of its earlier recommendation dated July 11, recommended that Justice G S Sandhawalia—the seniormost puisne Judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana—be appointed as the Chief Justice of the chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court on the retirement of Justice Shakdher.

Regarding Justice Suresh Kumar Kait of the Delhi High Court – who was earlier recommended to be appointed as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh – the Collegium on September 17 recommended that he be appointed as the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

However, there was no change in its recommendation for appointment of Delhi High Court Acting Chief Justice Manmohan as the Chief Justice of the same high court.

Similarly, the Collegium’s recommendations for appointment of Justice Nitin Madhukar Jamdar—the senior-most puisne Judge of the High Court of Bombay, as the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court and appointment of Justice KR Shriram—a senior Judge of the Bombay High Court as Chief Justice of the Madras High Court remained the same.