SC rejects last-minute plea for HC judge post

Dhananjay Mahapatra | TNN | May 5, 2020, 04:46 IST

NEW DELHI: Just 30 minutes before the swearing-in of a new additional judge in Karnataka High Court, the Supreme Court on Monday took up a petition filed by a Dalit district and sessions judge who alleged the appointment 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 HC 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 the petition, saying a plea filed at the eleventh hour challenging appointment of an HC judge could not be entertained. It also said 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 the final recommendation for HC judge appointments to the President is made by the SC collegium comprising the CJI and the next two senior-most judges.
In his petition, Mahaswamiji said he was a direct recruit for the post of district judge in the Scheduled Caste category in 2008. He said he was continuously victimised by the HC in promotion and had been superseded even before by the HC.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, the five new HC judges took oath as scheduled.