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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday sought attorney general R Venkataramani’s assistance to adjudicate a PIL which sought fixing a time limit for the Centre to notify appointment of constitutional court judges recommended by the SC collegium.
PIL petitioner Harsh Vibhore Singhal referred to the three judgments of the SC through which it had devised and finetuned the collegium system for selection of candidates for appointment as judges of the SC and HCs and said none of the judgments gave any discretion to the Union government to either sit over the recommended names or selectively notify appointments from the list. He said the SC must use its omnibus powers to fix a time limit.
A three-judge bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, who during the peak of the executive’s repeated questioning of the efficacy of the collegium system last November had advised adoption of a statesman like approach to resolve the differences over appointments, sought assistance of the top law officer in adjudicating the sensitive issue raised by the PIL.
The tussle between the executive and the judiciary over appointment of judges to constitutional courts has intensified since a five-judge bench of the SC by four to one majority had struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, which was unanimously passed by Parliament and was intended to replace the collegium system.
In December 2019, a bench headed by CJI S A Bobde had expressed deep anguish over the government’s inaction. “This has gone beyond any degree of reasonable period. There seems to be no time limit… Once we reiterate the same names, the government has to appoint them,” the bench had said.
In March, a bench headed by Justice Sanjay K Kaul had told the AG that the inordinate delay in notifying appointments was troubling the court. “This is very serious, more serious than anything else. We will have to make a difficult decision. Do not make us take a hard stand. Further delay may result in both administrative and judicial actions which may not be palatable,” the bench had said.
SC: Is there a common thread in Pansare, Dabholkar, Kalburgi and Lankesh killings?
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the CBI whether there was any “common thread” in the murders of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, CPI leader Govind Pansare, activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh and scholar M M Kalburgi.
Dabholkar, who fought against superstition, was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne persons in Pune on August 20, 2013. Pansare was killed on February 20, 2015, while Lankesh was shot on September 5, 2017. Kalburgi was shot on August 30, 2015.
The court posed this query to the CBI while hearing a plea by Dabholkar’s daughter Mukta challenging an April 18 order of the Bombay high court refusing to continue monitoring the investigation into the killing. “That is what we want to know,” the court said, and asked the CBI to “please look into it”.
PIL petitioner Harsh Vibhore Singhal referred to the three judgments of the SC through which it had devised and finetuned the collegium system for selection of candidates for appointment as judges of the SC and HCs and said none of the judgments gave any discretion to the Union government to either sit over the recommended names or selectively notify appointments from the list. He said the SC must use its omnibus powers to fix a time limit.
A three-judge bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, who during the peak of the executive’s repeated questioning of the efficacy of the collegium system last November had advised adoption of a statesman like approach to resolve the differences over appointments, sought assistance of the top law officer in adjudicating the sensitive issue raised by the PIL.
The tussle between the executive and the judiciary over appointment of judges to constitutional courts has intensified since a five-judge bench of the SC by four to one majority had struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, which was unanimously passed by Parliament and was intended to replace the collegium system.
In December 2019, a bench headed by CJI S A Bobde had expressed deep anguish over the government’s inaction. “This has gone beyond any degree of reasonable period. There seems to be no time limit… Once we reiterate the same names, the government has to appoint them,” the bench had said.
In March, a bench headed by Justice Sanjay K Kaul had told the AG that the inordinate delay in notifying appointments was troubling the court. “This is very serious, more serious than anything else. We will have to make a difficult decision. Do not make us take a hard stand. Further delay may result in both administrative and judicial actions which may not be palatable,” the bench had said.
SC: Is there a common thread in Pansare, Dabholkar, Kalburgi and Lankesh killings?
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the CBI whether there was any “common thread” in the murders of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, CPI leader Govind Pansare, activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh and scholar M M Kalburgi.
Dabholkar, who fought against superstition, was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne persons in Pune on August 20, 2013. Pansare was killed on February 20, 2015, while Lankesh was shot on September 5, 2017. Kalburgi was shot on August 30, 2015.
The court posed this query to the CBI while hearing a plea by Dabholkar’s daughter Mukta challenging an April 18 order of the Bombay high court refusing to continue monitoring the investigation into the killing. “That is what we want to know,” the court said, and asked the CBI to “please look into it”.
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