‘Collegium is not a search committee’: SC seeks update from Centre on pending recommendations for judgeship

The Supreme Court on September 20 said that the collegium was not a “search committee” and asked the government to submit a list of candidates whose names were reiterated by the body for judgeship in higher judiciary that have not been considered. 

According to convention, the government is obliged to accept the collegium's recommendation for appointment of judges if the decision has been reiterated. The collegium consists of the five senior-most Supreme Court judges, including the Chief Justice of India. 

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said, “The government has to specify what is the difficulty in as far as reiterated names are concerned.” 

The CJI-led bench told Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, appearing for the Centre, to make a list of names reiterated and inform why they are pending and at what level. 

“See, a collegium is not a search committee. If it merely had the status of a search committee, you had discretion. The idea is not to unearth skeletons in the cupboard, but to move forward,” the CJI said. 

The court was hearing a PIL seeking a direction that a time limit be fixed for the Centre to notify the appointment of judges recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium. 

Separately, a plea was also filed by the Jharkhand government seeking contempt of court action against the Centre for not clearing the recommendation made by the Collegium to appoint Justice MS Ramachandra Rao as the Chief Justice of the High Court. 

Attorney General R Venkatramani, however, expressed doubts about the extent to which the court could intervene in this matter. 

Reacting to it, the CJI said, “You tell us the reasons why those appointments are not being done.” 

The Supreme Court collegium had earlier this week passed a new resolution on the appointment of Chief Justices of the High Courts. The collegium has made changes to its earlier recommendations regarding Justice Suresh Kumar Kait (Delhi High Court), Justice GS Sandhawalia (Punjab and Haryana High Court) and Justice Tashi Rabstan (Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court).