Supreme Court Collegium to Meet Today to Decide on Elevation of Justice KM Joseph

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra has called a meeting of the Collegium on Friday during which the top five judges are expected to decide whether to recommend the name of Justice KM Joseph for elevation to the Supreme Court again.

The meeting, which is likely to be held around 1pm, has been convened after Justice Jasti Chelameswar, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India asking him to convene a meeting urgently to forward to the Centre the name of Uttarakhand Chief Justice as a judge of the apex court. The three other judges part of the Collegium had also met the CJI on Wednesday asking him to reiterate the name.

Legal experts have said that the Centre on receiving a reiteration from the Collegium would have no choice but to clear the appointment and swear him in as a judge of the Supreme Court.

The government had on April 26 returned the Collegium's recommendation to elevate Justice Joseph seeking its reconsideration, saying the proposal was not in accordance with the top court's parameters and there was adequate representation of Kerala in the higher judiciary from where he hails. It had also questioned his seniority for elevation as a judge of the apex court.

The rejection had caused a face-off between the government and the judiciary and triggered allegations by the Congress and some senior lawyers that Justice Joseph’s name was sent back due to his decision to cancel central rule in Uttarakhand in 2016.

In his letter sent to the CJI, Justice Chelameswar conveyed that he was reiterating his decision for the elevation of Justice Joseph as a judge of the top court since there was no change in the circumstance that had led the Collegium to recommend his name to the government on January 10.

Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Kurian Joseph and Madan Lokur met Chief Justice Dipak Misra in his chambers around 4.15 pm on Wednesday and discussed the reiteration of Justice Joseph’s name. This was the first such meeting among these judges after the formal collegium meeting on May 2 when it was expected that decision on the appointment would be taken, but it was deferred. Justice J Chelameswar was on leave and was not present at the meeting.