Supreme Court Collegium To Upload Its Decisions On Website, Including Transfer Of Judges

The Collegium is headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and has four senior-most judges of the apex court -- Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph.

Outlook Web Bureau

Updated on: 6 October 2017 5:46 pm

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Supreme Court Collegium To Upload Its Decisions On Website, Including Transfer Of Judges

Hot on the heels of the controversy around Justice Jayant Patel’s transfer, the Collegium has decided to upload its (reasoned) decisions to the apex court’s website. The Collegium is headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and has four senior-most judges of the apex court -- Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph.

The Collegium is responsible for the judicial appointments in the country at the level of the Supreme Court and the high courts. It has decided to upload reasoned decisions regarding transfers, appointments and elevations to the Supreme Court as well as the appointment of Chief Justices of various high courts.

This follows a public outrage over the resignation of Justice Jayant Patel, first puisne judge of the Karnataka HC. The judge had resigned in protest of his impending transfer (by the collegium) to another high court, where he would have lost his seniority. It would affect his chances of becoming a chief justice of a high court.

Several lawyers have supported him, particularly senior advocate Dushyant Dave, who also accused the political executive of tampering with Justice Patel’s seniority through the said transfer. The Bar Council of India had served him with a notice, which Dave said that he’d respond to.

"The decisions henceforth taken by the Collegium indicating reasons, shall be put on the website of Supreme Court, when recommendation(s) is/are sent to Government with regard to cases relating to initial elevation to High Court Bench, confirmation as permanent Judge(s) of High Court, elevation to the post of Chief Justice of High Court, transfer of High Court Chief Justices/Judges and elevation to Supreme Court, because on each occasion, the material which is considered by the Collegium is different.

"The Resolution is passed to ensure transparency and yet maintain confidentiality in the Collegium system," the resolution, adopted on October 3, said.

In the first uploaded resolution, information was provided on the appointment of Ashok Menon, Annie John and Narayana Pisharadi R as judges of the Kerala High Court.

The resolution gives details about the elevation of the three Judicial Officers as Kerala High Court judges whose names were recommended by the then Chief Justice of the High Court on February 2, 2017 in consultation with two of his senior-most colleagues. These names had received concurrence of the Chief Minister and the Governor of Kerala.

Similarly, the Collegium recommended the appointment of S Ramathilagam, R Tharani, and P Rajamanickam as Judges of the Madras High Court.

The names of the T Krishnavalli, R Pongiappan, and R Hemalatha have been recommended by the Collegium for appointment as Judges of the Madras High Court.

While clearing the three names from Kerala, the Collegium noted that nothing adverse was found against them, either from the High Court Collegium or in the intelligence reports.

In the case of Madras High Court, ten names were recommended and six were found suitable for appointment as high court judges based on the criteria adopted by the Collegium.