Sushma Swaraj, Sadananda Gowda meet CJI over judges’ appointment

In an effort to iron out the differences between the Executive and the Judiciary over key clauses in the draft memorandum of procedure to appoint judges to the higher judiciary, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and law minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Wednesday met Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur.

Sources stated that Ms Swaraj, who headed the group of ministers which drafted the memorandum, and Mr Gowda met Justice Thakur at his residence late on Wednesday. The meeting comes at a time when the government has decided to press ahead with the draft memorandum despite objections by the SC collegium on some of the key clauses. After feedback from the CJI, the government will now draft its response to the objections raised.

The collegium had on May 28 returned to the government the revised MoP — a document which guides appointment of judges to the SC and the 24 high courts — suggesting changes. It had questioned the government’s right to reject its recommendation on grounds of national interest. The judiciary has opposed defining the role of the proposed secretariat.

While the Executive drafts the MoP as per precedent both the government and the Judiciary have to agree on the provisions before it is operationalised and put in public domain. While the government and the collegium are on the same page to have secretariats in high courts to process judicial appointments, the judiciary has opposed defining the role of the proposed secretariat.

The revised MoP further provides that once the Centre has rejected a recommendation it will not be bound to reconsider it even after reiteration by the collegium which has raised objections on this.

The other clause which the collegium is learnt to have objected to is that the attorney general at the Centre and advocates general in the states should have a say in recommending candidates for appointment and elevation of judges to the Supreme Court and high courts.

This clause gives the Centre as well as the state governments an indirect say in naming candidates for the post of Supreme Court or high court judges. The collegium is also learnt to have sought ways to shorten the present time-line where it takes around three months to appoint a judge after a recommendation is made.