Amid row, govt clears revised names for SC
Dhananjay Mahapatra | TNN | Jan 17, 2019, 03:37 IST
NEW DELHI: Acting with great speed, the Union government accepted the Supreme Court collegium's controversial decision and appointed Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Delhi High Court's Justice Sanjiv Khanna as apex court judges.
The collegium headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justices A K Sikri, S A Bobde, N V Ramana and Arun Mishra had caused an uproar in legal and judicial circles by recalling its December 12 decision recommending Rajasthan HC CJ Pradeep Nandrajog and Delhi HC CJ Rajendra Menon.
During fresh deliberations on January 5-6, it scrapped the earlier recommendation and instead sent the names of Justices Maheshwari and Khanna for appointment as SC judges.
The collegium sent the recommendation to appoint Justices Maheshwari and Khanna to the Centre on January 10 and five days later, the law ministry issued a notification saying the President had appointed the two as SC judges.
When they take oath, which is likely on Friday, the number of judges in the SC will go up to 28, as against the sanctioned strength of 31, including the CJI.
The government had shown similar alacrity while accepting the collegium's October 30 recommendation to appoint Justices Hemant Gupta, R Subhash Reddy, M R Shah and Ajay Rastogi.
It had notified their appointment as SC judges on November 1, within 48 hours of receiving the recommendation.
Justice Maheshwari will have a tenure of a little over four years and will retire on May 14, 2023.
Justice Khanna, who is the nephew of Emergency era’s iconic judge Justice H R Khanna, will go on to become CJI for a period of six months and two days and retire on May 13, 2025.
The speed with which the government accepted the recommendation to appoint Justices Maheshwari and Khanna is being seen in legal circles as an attempt to quell the controversy from getting bigger. Many had protested the sidelining of Justice Nandrajog, who like Justice Sanjiv Khanna, belongs to Delhi HC.
With Justice Khanna, the Delhi HC will double its representation in SC and it will be very difficult for the CJI-led collegium to push other names from the HC for appointment as SC judges.
The collegium headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justices A K Sikri, S A Bobde, N V Ramana and Arun Mishra had caused an uproar in legal and judicial circles by recalling its December 12 decision recommending Rajasthan HC CJ Pradeep Nandrajog and Delhi HC CJ Rajendra Menon.
During fresh deliberations on January 5-6, it scrapped the earlier recommendation and instead sent the names of Justices Maheshwari and Khanna for appointment as SC judges.
The collegium sent the recommendation to appoint Justices Maheshwari and Khanna to the Centre on January 10 and five days later, the law ministry issued a notification saying the President had appointed the two as SC judges.
When they take oath, which is likely on Friday, the number of judges in the SC will go up to 28, as against the sanctioned strength of 31, including the CJI.
The government had shown similar alacrity while accepting the collegium's October 30 recommendation to appoint Justices Hemant Gupta, R Subhash Reddy, M R Shah and Ajay Rastogi.
It had notified their appointment as SC judges on November 1, within 48 hours of receiving the recommendation.
Justice Maheshwari will have a tenure of a little over four years and will retire on May 14, 2023.
Justice Khanna, who is the nephew of Emergency era’s iconic judge Justice H R Khanna, will go on to become CJI for a period of six months and two days and retire on May 13, 2025.
The speed with which the government accepted the recommendation to appoint Justices Maheshwari and Khanna is being seen in legal circles as an attempt to quell the controversy from getting bigger. Many had protested the sidelining of Justice Nandrajog, who like Justice Sanjiv Khanna, belongs to Delhi HC.
With Justice Khanna, the Delhi HC will double its representation in SC and it will be very difficult for the CJI-led collegium to push other names from the HC for appointment as SC judges.
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