Facing criticism from the Chief Justice of India over the Gopal Subramanium controversy, the government on Wednesday said it has the "highest regard" for the
The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended their names to the government last month.
Kejriwal claimed that during his meetings with judges he has "overheard them telling each other that they should not talk on phones because they could be tapped". The Chief Minister said when he told them the phones of judges cannot be tapped, "they retorted by saying that all phones could be tapped".
Along with her, Uttarakhand high court Chief Justice K M Joseph has also been cleared for elevation to the apex court.
Kovind may bag over 62 per cent votes but fall short of the 69 per cent votes polled by incumbent Pranab Mukherjee in 2012.
The hearing came nearly a month after the apex court had sent a stern message to the Centre over non-execution of collegium's decision to transfer and appointment of Chief Justices and judges in high courts.
With the elevation of these four new judges, the strength has risen from 24 to 28.
Amid furore created by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members in Parliament for the second day running, the government on Tuesday admitted that a Supreme Court collegium during the United Progressive Alliance rule had recommended extension of a judge in Tamil Nadu who was under corruption cloud.
The government and opposition were on Thursday united in criticising the functioning of the judiciary while seeking to scrap the collegium system of appointing judges to higher courts, saying it is essential to restore the delicate balance of power which has been disturbed.
The new judges of the top court include Justice B V Nagarathna, who will be in line to be the first woman Chief Justice of India (CJI) in September 2027, Justice Bela M Trivedi, Justice Hima Kohli, Justice C T Ravikumar, Justice M M Sundresh, and senior advocate and former Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh if he was aware of the cases against P J Thomas before the collegium appointed him as the Central Vigilance Commissioner.The BJP sought to know from the government why documents related to the charge-sheet in the Palmolein case in Kerala and those related to Thomas' efforts at 'covering up' the 2G spectrum allocation were not brought to the notice of the appointing collegium.
Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, however, said that the appointment of judges would go ahead irrespective of whether new Memorandum of Procedure was in place or not.
Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P D Dinakaran, whose elevation to the Supreme Court was halted, has been asked by the apex court collegium to go on leave. Sources said the decision was taken against Dinakaran, who has not been performing any judicial work since last December, as several representations were received that the judicial work of the high court has been hit. Sources said the collegium has also cleared the name of the acting chief justice of the Delhi HC.
The Madras High Court on Friday directed the Tamil Nadu government to file a report on whether the land being claimed by some persons in Kaverirajapuram were covered in the Thiruvallur district collector's report to the Supreme Court Collegium, which was looking into allegations of land-grabbing in the area by Karnataka Chief Justice P D Dinakaran.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday tersely told the Centre that appointment of judges in higher judiciary is a "serious" business and cannot be left either to the "hit-and-trial" method or to the mercy of God.
A day after his allegations that three former Chief Justices of India made 'improper compromises' to keep on an improper judge stirred a national storm, Justice Markandey Katju posed six questions to one of the Chief Justices, Justice R C Lahoti.
The unprecedent letter, copies of which were also sent to 22 other apex court judges, has questioned the probe initiated by Karnataka high court Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari against District and Sessions Judge Krishna Bhat at the instance of Union ministry of law and justice,
A landmark bill to replace the collegium system of judges choosing judges was on Thursday passed in the Lok Sabha after government dropped a controversial provision that required unanimity in recommendation if the President seeks reconsideration.
'It is a very vital issue and we cannot keep it pending. We intend to pass an order as to who will hear the matter.'
The order will be passed by a five-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices NV Ramana, DY Chandrachud, Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna on a petition filed by a Supreme Court Secretary-General challenging the January 2010 judgment of the Delhi high court.
Following objection from petitioners who claimed conflict of interest.
Senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam on Wednesday asked the Chief Justice of India to withdraw the recommendation about his candidature as the judge of the Supreme Court.
'If ever there was a decisive moment in the history of the Supreme Court where it has been under attack by the Executive, and the judges have boldly stood up for independence of the Judiciary, that time was now.' 'These four judges did a brilliant thing, they set an example.' 'They showed that they were fulfilling their duty to the Constitution and to God.' 'Don't allow fear to dictate your actions was their message.'
Stoking a fresh controversy, Press Council of India chairperson Justice Markandey Katju on Monday alleged that the then Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan had pushed for the elevation of a Madras high court judge with "bad reputation" to the Supreme Court.
She is the first woman lawyer to enter the top judiciary directly.
"This is my last judicial act as a judge of the Delhi high court," Justice S Muralidhar, who has been transferred to the Punjab and Haryana high court, said after delivering a judgment in a matter relating to commercial activities being carried out from residential areas.
A day after informing Parliament that the Prime Minister's Office under Manmohan Singh had pushed for extension to a judge facing corruption charges, the government on Wednesday demanded that the former prime minister should make a "categorical" statement on the controversial matter.
The apex court, which quashed the NJAC Act in an unanimous verdict, also declared as unconstitutional the 99th amendment to the Constitution to bring in the Act to replace the collegium system.
"Day in day out there exists a misconception in the minds of people that judges stay in big bungalows, work only 10 AM to 4 PM and enjoy their holidays. Such a narrative is untrue," Chief Justice N V Ramana said on Thursday while paying glowing tributes to Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman on his superannuation after over seven years at the Supreme Court bench.
'N Ram and I met on the lawns of Mani Shankar Aiyar's bungalow.' 'I pulled out a rolled printout from my jacket and handed it to him.' 'In the cut-throat world of journalism, this was like high treason.' 'But letting a story be killed because you can't publish it is a bigger crime than passing it to the competition,' recalls Shekhar Gupta.
Justices A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and L Nageshwar Rao were on Friday sworn in as Supreme Court judges, taking the apex court's strength to 29, including Chief Justice T S Thakur.
The SC on Wednesday restrained all high courts from entertaining any petition challenging validity of NJAC act meant to replace the two-decade-old collegium system.
Kumar thanked the leaders of 17 opposition parties, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, for fielding her.
Delhi's power circles can expect a surprise when a not-so-known officer is appointed to head the CBI.
'The appointment of judges must not be under the control of the government,' says Prashant Bhushan.
'Somebody will need to blow the whistle, call the play to a halt, and convince all players that they belong on the same side of the goal,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Justice Chelameswar said the reasons were too obvious and he would not like to deal with the matter.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday hinted that the Narendra Modi government will rework on a constitutional amendment bill introduced by the previous dispensation which seeks to give the executive a say in appointment of judges.
'The Supreme Court should take it up with the government and send a message that high court judges are not pawns in the transfer games.'
'There is no doubt that he commands respect. He's on the ball.'
