SC rejects dalit district judge's challenge to Karnataka HC judge appointment

NEW DELHI: Just 30 minutes before swearing in of a new additional Judge in Karnataka High Court, the Supreme Court on Monday took up for hearing a petition filed by a dalit district and sessions judge who questioned the HC judge's appointment alleging that it breached the cardinal seniority rule.
District and sessions judge of Shivamogga district RKGMM Mahaswamiji, in his petition filed through advocate Sanjay Nuli, contended that he was among the most senior district judges in the state and that the high court collegium led by the Chief Justice committed a grave error by ignoring seniority and recommending Padmaraj N Desai, who was junior to him, for appointment as an additional judge of the HC.
A hurriedly constituted bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose heard arguments through video conferencing and dismissed it saying a petition filed in the eleventh hour challenging appointment of a HC judge cannot be entertained. It also said that the SC seldom went into the correctness of Presidential orders appointing judges to constitutional courts. Entertaining the petition would have been embarrassing for the SC itself as final recommendation for HC judge appointments to President is made by the SC collegium comprising the CJI and the next two most senior judges.
Mahaswamiji in his petition said that he was a direct recruit for the post of district judge in the scheduled caste category in 2008. He narrated that he has been continuously victimised by the High Court in matters of grant of promotion and had been superseded even before by the HC. He cited the instance of promotion of a junior to the post of district judge in 2015 while he continued as an additional district judge.
However, with the SC bench of Justices Gupta and Bose dismissing the challenge minutes before 10.30 am, oath taking of five new judges in HC went on as scheduled.