Justice Kureshi elevation: Collegium decision will be published on SC website soon, says CJI

NEW DELHI, Sep 16
Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Monday said the Collegium had taken a decision on the government’s communication to re-consider its recommendation to appoint Justice Akil Kureshi as Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The CJI said the the Collegium’s decision would be published on the Supreme Court website shortly.
It was only recently the government returned Justice Kureshi’s file to the Collegium, which recommended the judge’s name on May 10.
The CJI’s statement came while hearing a petition filed by the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association on the fate of Justice Kureshi’s recommendation.
In a previous hearing, senior advocate Fali Nariman, who represented the association, had criticised the unexplained delay by the government in taking a call on Justice Kureshi.
Mr. Nariman had said the government should act as a “distinguished communicator” and not resort to what seemed “deliberate inaction” over a recommendation made by the Collegium as way back as May 10. The Centre should clarify whether it had even sought feedback from the Madhya Pradesh government.
The association alleged that Justice Kureshi’s elevation was singled out for uncertainty while those of other judges, who were recommended along with him, sailed through.
“The deliberate inaction of the respondent [the Centre] in not appointing Mr. Justice Akil Kureshi as the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court impinges and diminishes the primacy of the judiciary in the matters of appointment and transfer of judges to High Court and Supreme Court,” the petition filed by the association through its president and senior advocate Yatin Oza submitted.
It said the May 10 recommendation was made by the Collegium in accordance with the law laid down in the Second Judges Case and Memorandum of Procedure for judicial appointments and transfers. It said the “recommendation is rendered moot by the arbitrary inaction by the respondent in withholding the appointment of Mr. Justice Akil Kureshi.”
The association submitted that the delay in the appointment of the High Court judge was violative of Articles 14 and 217 of the Constitution and subversive of the rule of law.
The association said the apex court should issue directions to the government to decide on appointments of High Court Chief Justices within a period of six weeks from the Collegium’s date of recommendation. The Hindu