Court says it had reiterated every one of the 43 names that was sent back by the Centre to the Collegium.

The Supreme Court Collegium has refused to accept the government's rejection of 43 names of the 77 it had hand-picked for judicial appointments in High Courts.

The appointments of 34 names were done by the government.

The Supreme Court informed the government on Friday that it had reiterated every one of the 43 names that was sent back by the Centre to the Collegium for re-consideration.

"We [Collegium] have already met. We have reiterated all the 43 names sent to us," Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur informed Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi on Friday.

The government is now on a sticky wicket as the new Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) is yet to be finalised and the prevalent procedure is that once the Collegium reiterates the names sent back to them, the government is bound to accept them and clear them for appointment as judges.

The government sent back the names after Chief Justice Thakur told the Centre to send back names in case of any difference of opinion rather than keep the entire process of judicial appointments hanging.

The court, however, did not mention any progress in the stalemate over the new MoP, which was referred to the Collegium by the government on August 3.

“The last communication on the MoP was on August 3... since then there has been no reply from the Collegium,” Mr. Rohatgi submitted in the previous hearing.

The government's submissions had come in the background of a tongue-lashing it received from the Chief Justice, who accused the government of trying to choke justice by not appointing judges and locking courtrooms en masse.

Chief Justice Thakur had > accused the government of trying to “decimate the judiciary and lock justice out.”