Divisions in Supreme Court over elevation of judges

The Supreme Court collegium led by SA Bobde has not recommended the appointment of a single judge to the highest court in the land since the chief justice took office in November 2019.

Five SC judges are set to hang up their robes by August 2021, but the collegium is yet to send a single recommendation to the government regarding the elevation of new judges. Bobde will retire on April 23; the last time a CJI retired without a single appointment to the SC was in 2015, during the tenure of HL Dattu.

It is important to note that the collegium has recommended several judges to high courts since Bobde took over.

The Indian Express newspaper said quoting sources that there was a “lack of consensus in the collegium – comprising CJI Bobde and Justices NV Ramana, Rohinton Nariman, UU Lalit and AM Khanwilkar – on recommending Justice Akil Kureshi, chief justice of the Tripura High Court, to the SC”.

The government was against the appointment of Kureshi – one of the senior-most judges in the country – as the chief justice of Tripura HC, according to sources.

The collegium has held more than 25 meetings since Bobde’s appointment as CJI