Opposing the transfer of Madras high court Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee to Meghalaya, over 200 advocates of the Madras high court have signed a representation to the Chief Justice of India, N V Ramana and the Supreme Court collegium, seeking to reconsider the decision to shift CJ Banerjee.
Replying to questions in the Upper House of Parliament, the law minister said the Centre has limited powers over appointments of judges.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Constitution has vested enormous powers on the "fragile shoulder" of the chief election commissioner and the two election commissioners and it wants a CEC of strong character like late T N Seshan.
The senior most among the five judges, whose names were officially announced by the Centre on Saturday, is Justice Mithal whose parent cadre is the Allahabad high court.
Vice President Dhankar's and Law Minister Rijuju's recent interventions have the danger of destabilising the Constitutional equilibrium, cautions N Sathiya Moorthy.
'When two organs of our Constitution, which are supposed to be the strongest pillars of Indian democracy, start mistrusting each other, then what is left of the country? What is left of democracy?'
The Supreme Court is all set to regain its full strength of 34 judges with the apex court collegium headed by CJI N V Ramana recommending names of the Chief Justice of Gauhati high court Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Gujarat high court judge Justice Jamshed B Pardiwala for elevation to the apex court, sources said.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the transfer of Justice Banerjee to the Meghalaya high court. This decision snowballed into a controversy with voices for and against the shifting of the senior judge.
Last month, the Supreme Court collegium had withdrawn its approval to a proposal for the appointment of additional judge, Justice Ganediwala as a permanent judge of the court following her two controversial verdicts.
As judges are not elected, they do not face public scrutiny but people watch them and make assessment about them from the way they deliver justice, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Monday.
The year 2022 is going to be the second year since the inception of the top court in 1950 which will see three different CJIs in as many months.
The bench is hearing a batch of pleas seeking a collegium-like system for the appointment of ECs and the Chief Election Commissioner.
The bench refused to entertain the plea filed by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms and dismissed it.
Bombay high court judge Justice Pushpa Ganediwala, who faced flak over a series of judgments that were deemed as controversial for the interpretation of what constitutes as 'sexual assault' under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, has resigned.
Justice Rastogi asks Mehta if he thinks that in the absence of law, whatever appointments are being made in a process are appropriate.
'I wonder how people who come to power through democratic means turn out this way.' 'But people of India are strong, and those who think they can hoodwink people, are mistaken.' 'You can fool some people for some time, but not all people, all the time.'
Bombay High Court Chief Justice Dipankar Datta was on Monday administered the oath of office as a Supreme Court judge by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud.
Chief Justice of India Justice Chandrachud administered the oath of office to the new judges in a swearing-in ceremony at the apex court's auditorium.
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday invoked the constitutional 'Lakshman Rekha' guiding different institutions, including the executive and the judiciary, and wondered that if judges become part of administrative appointments, who would carry out judicial work.
In a first, the Supreme Court Collegium had last week recommended for appointment to the apex court three women judges, including Justice B V Nagarathna who will be in line to be the first woman Chief Justice of India (CJI) in September 2027 if she gets the final nod.
The Supreme Court Bar Association has written to Chief Justice of India NV Ramana expressing anguish at the non-consideration of names of its members for elevation as judges in various high courts.
Justice Ramana said that he took up the issues concerning the appointment of judges and infrastructure during his term and hoped that he stood up to the expectations of the legal fraternity.
The Supreme Court on Monday regained its full strength of 34 judges as chief justice of Gauhati high court Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Gujarat high court judge Justice Jamshed B Pardiwala took oath as apex court judges.
Thackeray, whose Maha Vikas Aghadi government fell after a rebellion in June last year by his cabinet colleague Eknath Shinde, who went on to become CM, also warned he would extract revenge for his ouster.
The sources indicated that the government was not averse to elevating Justice Kureshi as the chief justice of some other high court.
CJI Lalit concurred with the minority view of Justice S Ravindra Bhat who held the EWS quota as "unconstitutional" for excluding poor among SCs, STs and OBCs.
In a major cabinet reshuffle, Arjun Ram Meghwal has replaced Kiren Rijiju as the Union law and justice minister, a communique from the President's Secretariat said on Thursday.
Justices Rajesh Bindal and Aravind Kumar were administered oath during a swearing-in ceremony held in the Supreme Court premises.
"I am not a person to retire and I am going to start a new inning of my life. I am praying to the almighty God to give me strength and courage and good health to play the new inning," said Justice Shah.
Her resignation has been accepted with effect from September 6, it said.
Justice Bose is the Chief Justice of Jharkhand high court whereas Justice Bopanna is the Gauhati high court Chief Justice.
Differences of opinion are a part of democracy and there are ways to find solutions to that, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Thursday in Rajya Sabha on whether there exists differences between the judiciary and the executive on the issue of appointment of judges.
People sitting in responsible positions have to think before saying anything, whether it will benefit the country or not
The collegium had recommended her transfer on August 28, after which she had made a representation requesting it to reconsider the proposal.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice KM Joseph said the concepts of liberty, equality and fraternity must not be "strange bedfellows" to the ruling class.
Mendiratta was appointed as judge based on his seniority as a judicial officer, sources in the government said.
Justice Pushpa Ganediwala recently acquitted a man accused of groping a 12-year-old girl's breast because he did not make skin-to-skin contact and days earlier, ruled that holding the hands of a five-year-old girl and unzipping the trousers do not amount to "sexual assault" under the POCSO Act.
Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi will administer the oath of office to the two judges on Friday, an official circular said.
Justice Chandrachud will serve as the CJI for two years till November 10, 2024.
With the two appointments, the strength of the top court will rise to 28 with three vacancies.
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