NEW DELHI: In an unprecedented step, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Altamas Kabir had — a fortnight before his retirement — proposed before the collegium of four senior-most Supreme Court judges for recommending to the Centre to appoint a high court Chief Justice as judge of the apex court.

The CJI had on July 2 requisitioned a meeting of the collegium comprising himself and Justices P Sathasivam, GS Singhvi, RM Lodha and HL Dattu. Once they assembled, the collegium members were told by the CJI about the proposal.

But, the CJI was told that the President has signed the warrant of appointment designating justice Sathasivam as the next CJI and fixed July 19 for administering oath to him.

Since, the warrant of appointment had come, it would be against precedents and tradition for the outgoing Chief Justice of India to push for appointment of Judges to the high courts or the Supreme Court.

Not convinced, Justice Kabir sought individual opinions of each member of the collegium on the tradition and precedent thrown at him to stall his last proposal as the head of the judiciary. All four senior-most judges concurred that it would not be proper for the outgoing CJI to push for an appointment to the Supreme Court especially when his successor had been issued warrant of appointment.

He was told that in the past the outgoing Chief Justices had in fact requisitioned the meeting of collegium but it was only to address an emergency situation, like an ad-hoc Judge’s tenure in a high court coming to an end prior to the new CJI taking oath warranting extension or denial thereof.

Unconvinced by the logic presented to scuttle his proposal, the CJI, it is learnt, flared up accusing the collegium members of “ganging up” against him. With the overwhelming majority in the collegium not favouring breaching the tradition and precedent, the CJI had no option but to drop his proposal.