SC sticks to its two judge nominees, rejects Centre's objection

The Supreme Court collegium on Thursday (May 9) rejected the Centre’s objection to the elevation of two judges to the apex court.

The collegium had on April 12 recommended Justices Aniruddha Bose and AS Bopanna for elevation to the SC. In addition, it had also recommended Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant for elevation. The collegium consists of the five senior-most judges of the SC.

The collegium said, “merit should be given predominant consideration and nothing adverse regarding competence, conduct or integrity of the judges had been pointed out by the government.”

If the judges are elevated, the Supreme Court can reach its sanctioned strength of 31, if it gets the go-ahead from the President. At present, the apex court has a working strength of 27 judges.

Justice Bose, whose parent High Court is Calcutta, is ranked number 12 in terms of seniority in India, while Justice Bopanna, whose parent High Court is Karnataka, is ranked number 36. Bose is currently the Jharkhand High Court Chief Justice while Bopanna is the Gauhati High Court Chief Justice.

The government had returned Justice Bose’s name to the collegium when he was recommended to head the Delhi high court last year.