Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has written to CJI Misra to recommend the name of the Supreme Court judge who is likely to succeed him when the CJI retires on October 2, ministry sources said.
The Union Law Ministry has formally communicated to Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra to recommend the name of his successor, official sources in the government confirmed. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has written to CJI Misra to recommend the name of the Supreme Court judge who is likely to succeed him when the CJI retires on October 2, ministry sources said. They said the move was according to the convention laid out in the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP), where the law minister at an appropriate time seeks the recommendation of the outgoing CJI for the appointment of the next CJI.
According to the Memorandum of Procedure that governs the appointment of members of the higher judiciary, “appointment to the office of the Chief Justice of India should be of the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court considered fit to hold the office”. Under this process, after receipt of the recommendation of the CJI, the law minister puts it before the Prime Minister who advises the President in the matter of appointment. “Whenever there is any doubt about the fitness of the senior-most Judge to hold the office of the Chief Justice of India, consultation with other Judges… would be made for appointment of the next Chief Justice of India,” the document states.
Prasad had recently said that the government’s intention on the appointment of the next Chief Justice of India should not be questioned. He had also said that when the incumbent names the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court as his successor as per convention, the executive will take a call.
Responding to a question at the Law Ministry’s annual press conference on whether the government would follow the laid-down conventions and procedures to appoint Justice Ranjan Gogoi as the next Chief Justice, Prasad had said: “The question is imaginary… as far as the appointment of the Chief Justice of India is concerned, the convention is clear… the sitting chief justice names the senior-most judge (of the top court) as his successor. When the name comes to us, we will discuss it.”