NEW DELHI: Rejecting the contentions of senior Supreme Court judges, the Centre on Monday refused to alter the order of oath-taking for new SC judges scheduled for Tuesday, maintaining that Justice K M Joseph will be sworn in last after Justices Indira Banerjee and Vineet Saran.Official sources told TOI that the government took the all-India seniority of the three judges into account while fixing the order of oath in a “legitimate, transparent and traditional” manner. They said fanning a controversy over Justice Joseph’s oath sequence was unnecessary, unwarranted and completely lacked basis.Rejecting the argument that the order of oath-taking was violative of the principle of seniority, sources said while Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee was at fourth position in the all-India judges’ seniority list, Orissa HC CJ Saran was at five and Uttarakhand CJ Joseph way below at 39. Justices Banerjee and Saran became HC judges in February 2002, while Justice Joseph became an HC Judge more than two years and eight months later on October 14, 2004, they said. Interestingly, none of the three will go on to become CJI.Sources close to Justice Joseph told TOI that he will take oath on Tuesday as per the order fixed by the President, bringing the curtain down on an unsavoury controversy which was triggered by the Centre’s April 30 decision to return the collegium’s January 10 recommendation for reconsideration by the SC.On Monday, at the customary tea meeting of judges at 10.25 am, Justice Kurian Joseph flagged Justice K M Joseph’s order of oath. He told CJI Dipak Misra that the collegium had recommended Justice Joseph’s elevation to SC on January 10, six months before the names of Justices Banerjee and Saran were considered and recommended. Thus, Justice Joseph should have been first to take oath among the three, he stressed and got support from Justice Madan B Lokur.However, other judges felt Tuesday’s oath taking ceremony should proceed smoothly and the issue of government purportedly changing order of seniority, contrary to the sequence of recommendations, could be discussed later in collegium meetings.TOI spoke to a number of judges who said “a non-controversy is being fanned” and maintained that a majority of judges believed seniority had not been violated by the government as both Justices Banerjee and Saran were considerably ahead of Justice Joseph in the pecking order.The CJI met attorney general K K Venugopal in the afternoon and conveyed the sentiments of Justice Kurian Joseph. The AG, in turn, put up the issue to law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad .Sources said Prasad was categorical that the Centre went strictly by the book, respecting seniority and tradition, in determining the order of oath. They said though the collegium had indeed recommended Justice Joseph for elevation on January 10, it could not give him any weightage in terms of seniority as the Union government had sought a reconsideration, objecting to his lack of seniority.Sources said it was only on July 16 that the collegium decided to send the names of Justices Banerjee, Saran and Joseph together, thus permitting the government to note their comparative seniority and fix order of oath. However, sources said though the files were sent together, the file number containing Justice Joseph’s recommendation was 1/2018, while that of Justices Banerjee and Saran was 3/2018, a clear indication that Justice Joseph had precedence over the other two in getting recommended for appointment as SC judge.