NEW DELHI: In a rare move, Supreme Court on Monday sought Himachal Pradesh high court’s response to a petition by two senior district judges who alleged that HC collegium did not consider their names for appointment as HC judges in blatant breach of SC collegium’s advice and Union law minister’s communication, said some senior officials.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Mishra repeatedly asked senior advocate Arvind Datar, whether the two district judges, Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra, were completely ignored by the HC collegium while recommending names of judicial officers’ junior to them for appointment as HC judges.
Datar said non-consideration of Singh and Malhotra, despite Jan 4 SC collegium resolution asking for reconsideration by HC collegium, resulted in ignoring their merit, seniority, and unblemished judicial track record.
The senior advocate said instead of adhering to SC collegium’s advice, HC collegium ignored names of Singh and Malhotra and called for judgements of judicial officers much junior to them for the purpose of recommending candidates for appointment as high court judges.
This resulted in stepping around merit, seniority and unblemished judicial track-records of Singh and Malhotra, he said, adding, “Facts and circumstances of present case exhibit blatant violation of petitioners’ constitutional rights, pertinently their right to be considered.”
The bench sought response of HC registrar general and asked him to present before SC specific information on “whether HC collegium reconsidered cases of the petitioners as per SC Collegium decision and communication from Union law minister.” The court posted the matter for further hearing in Aug.
The petitioners’ grievance was that the HC collegium did not adhere to SC-devised selection process.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Mishra repeatedly asked senior advocate Arvind Datar, whether the two district judges, Chirag Bhanu Singh and Arvind Malhotra, were completely ignored by the HC collegium while recommending names of judicial officers’ junior to them for appointment as HC judges.
Datar said non-consideration of Singh and Malhotra, despite Jan 4 SC collegium resolution asking for reconsideration by HC collegium, resulted in ignoring their merit, seniority, and unblemished judicial track record.
The senior advocate said instead of adhering to SC collegium’s advice, HC collegium ignored names of Singh and Malhotra and called for judgements of judicial officers much junior to them for the purpose of recommending candidates for appointment as high court judges.
This resulted in stepping around merit, seniority and unblemished judicial track-records of Singh and Malhotra, he said, adding, “Facts and circumstances of present case exhibit blatant violation of petitioners’ constitutional rights, pertinently their right to be considered.”
The bench sought response of HC registrar general and asked him to present before SC specific information on “whether HC collegium reconsidered cases of the petitioners as per SC Collegium decision and communication from Union law minister.” The court posted the matter for further hearing in Aug.
The petitioners’ grievance was that the HC collegium did not adhere to SC-devised selection process.