The government’s decision to send back the Supreme Court Collegium’s recommendation for elevation of Uttarakhand Chief Justice K.M. Joseph as a judge of the top court was unprecedented and needed more detailed discussions, Justice Kurian Joseph, a member of the Collegium, said on Sunday.

“Things that should not have happened had happened — that is the general feeling,” the apex court judge told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

Need for discussions

He was replying to a question on the Centre returning the recommendation of the collegium and asking it to reconsider Justice K.M. Joseph’s elevation to the apex court.

“There is no precedent of the names recommended by the collegium being returned [by the Centre]. So, more detailed discussions should take place [on the matter],” the Supreme Court judge said, without elaborating further.