CJI surprised at Centre’s speed in clearing 4 SC judges’ appointments

Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 2

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Friday expressed surprise over the unprecedented speed with which the Centre cleared the formalities in less than 48 hours for appointment of four Supreme Court judges who took oath earlier in the day.

“Recommendations were sent to the Government at 11 am on Wednesday. In the evening when I was told medical has been done, even I was in awe,” the CJI told legal journalists during an interaction in Supreme Court Press Lounge.

Justice Gogoi was responding to questions from journalists about the speed at which appointments of Justice Hemant Gupta, Justice R Subhash Reddy, Justice MR Shah and Justice Ajay Rastogi were cleared for elevation to the top court.

The appoinments were cleared in 48 hours of the Collegium's recommendation. The speed took many by surprise, especially given that the Centre sat over Justice KM Joseph’s appointment for several months before asking the Collegium to re-consider their recommendation. He was finally appointed to the court in August this year.

The CJI admitted the appointment of Justice AS Dave as acting Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court instead of Justice Kureshi was an oversight that had already been corrected.

During the interaction, CJI Gogoi was accompanied by Justice SA Bobde, who would likely succeed Gogoi.

While hearing of a petition filed by Centre for PIL in the pre-lunch session, Justice Gogoi said that almost 39 names recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium for appointment of judges in various high courts were pending with the central government.

As the petitioner’s counsel accused the Centre of sitting over Collegium’s recommendations and requested the court to speed up the process of judicial appointments in high courts, the CJI said he will address the issue on the administrative side.

Justice Gogoi said the top court was planning to make available translated copies of its judgments to litigants in their mother tongue.

“To start with, it might be done in Hindi,” he added.