On April 26, the government had returned for reconsideration the collegium’s recommendation to elevate Justice K M Joseph but notified the appointment of Malhotra as a judge. (Express photo by Neeraj Priyadarshi) On April 26, the government had returned for reconsideration the collegium’s recommendation to elevate Justice K M Joseph but notified the appointment of Malhotra as a judge. (Express photo by Neeraj Priyadarshi)

Supreme Court Collegium on Friday unanimously agreed in principle to reiterate the recommendation to elevate Uttarakhand Chief Justice K M Joseph as an apex court judge. The Collegium, comprising of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, made the decision during an hour-long meeting which was held after the recommendation was returned by the Centre.

Besides this, the Collegium also decided to recommend names of other judges for elevation to the top court. On May 2, the Collegium had discussed the matter of elevation of judges from Calcutta, Rajasthan, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh “in view of the concept of fair representation”.

“The Chief Justice and other members of the Collegium have, on principle, unanimously agreed that the recommendation for appointment of Justice K M Joseph, Chief Justice, Uttarakhand High Court [Parent High Court: Kerala] as a Judge of the Supreme Court should be reiterated,” the Collegium, in a resolution, said.

It added, “However, the said reiteration should also be accompanied by the recommendation of the names of Chief Justices of High Courts for elevation as Judges of the Supreme Court, for which detailed discussion is required.”

The next meeting has been slated for May 16. “In view of the aforesaid, the meeting stands deferred for being held at 4.15 PM on Wednesday, May 16, 2018,” it said.

Read | Four Collegium judges meet, pressure on CJI to reiterate Justice K M Joseph’s name

It was four months ago, at its meeting on January 10, that the Collegium consisting of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, the senior-most judge in the apex court Justice J Chelameswar and Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph had decided unanimously to recommend the names of Justice K M Thomas and (then senior advocate) Indu Malhotra to the Supreme Court.

On April 26, the government returned for reconsideration the collegium’s recommendation to elevate Justice K M Joseph but notified the appointment of Malhotra as a judge. It was Justice Joseph who had struck down the Centre’s bid to impose President’s rule in Uttarakhand. Law Minister Ravi Shankar denies that this is a factor.

Read | Not avenging Justice K M Joseph’s Uttarakhand order: Ravi Shankar Prasad

As reported in The Indian Express earlier, there was an informal meeting of the four judges on May 9. That, along with a letter by Justice J Chelameswar to his four colleagues in the collegium, detailing why he felt Justice K M Joseph’s name should be reiterated immediately, appear to have resulted in CJI Dipak Misra calling a formal meeting today to consider the matter.

Read | In The Name Of Independence

The apex court is functioning with 24 judges out of a total strength of 31; four judges are expected to retire this year.

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