A few Supreme Court judges intend to meet Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra on Monday to express dissatisfaction over the government altering Justice K.M. Joseph’s seniority, making him junior to Justices Indira Banerjee and Vineet Saran in the court.
According to highly placed sources in the court, the judges are “upset and agitated” by the way the government seemed to have overlooked the fact that the collegium had “separately reiterated” Justice Joseph’s name to the government on July 16, before recommending Justices Banerjee and Saran. The names of the latter two judges were recommended as a separate batch on the same day (July 16).
Swearing-in on Tuesday
The three judges – Justices Banerjee, Saran and Joseph — are scheduled to be sworn in on August 7 as Supreme Court judges. Justice Joseph is to be sworn in third following Justices Banerjee and Saran “in precedence on the Bench of the Supreme Court.”
“Obviously when Justice Joseph’s name is considered and reiterated separately, the collegium intended Justice Joseph to be ranked senior to the other two [Justices Banerjee and Saran]. But it appears that it has been altered at the executive stage. The collegium was very clear in its mind that Justice Joseph must rank senior… This is very strange in a way,” former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha told The Hindu on Sunday over phone.
“It depends on the Chief Justice of India… how he wants to handle it. Unless the matter is taken up immediately by the CJI, nothing is going to happen,” he said.
Justice Lodha explained that the oath ceremony circular — which mentions Justice Joseph third in the numerical order behind Justices Banerjee and Saran — would reflect the government’s communication to the Secretary General, Supreme Court, stating the President’s direction of which judge should have precedence over the other while taking their oath of affirmation.
Justice Lodha mused how this “alteration” would have had a dire effect in the case of a future Chief Justice of India. Justice Joseph is, however, not in line to be CJI, though he would rise in the hierarchy to preside over court number three before retiring on June 16, 2023. Both Justices Banerjee and Saran would retire in 2022.
The collegium had initially recommended Justice Joseph, who was Uttarakhand Chief Justice and author of the judgment that quashed President’s rule in the State, on January 10 this year.
The Centre sat on the file for months before sending it back to the collegium in April. But not before it unilaterally bifurcated Justice Joseph’s name and cleared Justice Indu Malhotra, whose name was recommended by the collegium along with Justice Joseph.
As a sitting Chief Justice of a High Court, Justice Joseph was then senior to Justice Malhotra, who was a direct appointment from the Bar.
On July 16, after the court’s summer vacations, the collegium reiterated the name of Justice Joseph, recording that it had carefully considered the letters of the Union Law Minister on April 26 and 28 and found “nothing adverse regarding suitability of Justice K.M. Joseph.”
