Collegium not a search committee, no discretion in reiterated recommendations: SC to Centre

New Delhi, Sep 20 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday told the Centre that the “Collegium is not a search committee” and there cannot be any discretion in accepting its reiterated recommendations.

“The Collegium is not a search committee. It has a certain status in the constitutional fabric. This is not a case of a search committee, where it makes a recommendation and there is an absolute discretion whether to accept or not,” a bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud told Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani, the highest law officer of the Centre.

The Bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, asked AG Venkataramani to file a chart indicating the status of reiterated recommendations and the difficulty in notifying those names.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan said that a large number of reiterated recommendations are pending with the Centre and should be notified immediately. Bhushan added that apart from the above issue, the Centre “sits for years” on initial recommendations forwarded by the Collegium.

“Mr Attorney General, please tell us which are the reiterated names but remain pending and why are they pending? Give us a tabulated chart, and we will deal with it,” the apex court said.

Adjourning the hearing for next week, the SC said, “Let's wait for a little while. Some of these appointments are in the pipeline. We are expecting that appointments (of Chief Justices of several HCs) should come very shortly.”

“Ultimately, Mr Attorney General, the idea is not to unearth skeletons in the cupboard but to move forward. The business of governance must proceed," added the CJI Chandrachud-led Bench.

On Thursday, the Centre urged the apex court to “push for another week” the hearing on a batch of pleas concerning the delay in the appointment or transfer of judges in the higher judiciary.

“If the batch of petitions could be pushed for another week or so, I will be in a position to come back with something. Let it not be taken up tomorrow,” submitted A.G. Venkataramani.

At this, CJI Chandrachud said, “It will be on board because the causelist is already out. You can mention it tomorrow because the other side is not here.”

Presently, the committee comprising the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, commonly called the Collegium, sends the recommendation for the appointment of a judge to the apex court as per the 1993 Second Judges Case.

The Collegium basically decides who will be appointed as a judge to the Supreme Court or a High Court. As per convention, the government is obliged to accept the Collegium's recommendation if the decision has been reiterated. Commonly called "judges selecting judges", in this system, judges are appointed and transferred only by judges.

In 2015, a five-judge Constitution Bench struck down the Centre’s idea of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) to replace the Collegium system.

Article 124(2) of the Constitution provides that "every Judge of the Supreme Court shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal after consultation with such of the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts in the States as the President may deem necessary for the purpose."

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