Why has the academy’s recommended candidate not been appointed? Centre gives information to Supreme Court

Despite the Supreme Court committee’s recommendations, the central government appointed Attorney General R. Venkataramani in reply. The Attorney General told a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra that many of the names recommended by the committee for appointment as high court judges and chief justices were “sensitive facts” to the central government. As a result, there was a delay in the implementation of the Supreme Court collegium’s recommendations.

R. Venkataramani told the apex court that it was not in the interest of the institute nor the concerned judges to make public the sensitive factual information he had received from the central government. Therefore, he wanted to place the information in a sealed envelope before the bench so that the matters could be conveyed confidentially to the three judges. The bench headed by CJI Chandrachud was hearing a PIL filed by lawyer Harsh Vibhor Singhal wherein the central government had not approved the appointments of chief justices and judges of many high courts even after months of recommendations of a Supreme Court committee.

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In his petition, lawyer Harsh Vibhor Singhal urged the Supreme Court committee to prescribe a fixed time limit for notifying the appointment of judges after making recommendations. So, if no appointment is made, the facts and the reasons behind it should be communicated to the Supreme Court within the time limit. The petition pointed out that since no fixed time limit has been set, the government is being arbitrary in notifying the appointment. This leads to unnecessary delays in the judicial process and affects the autonomy of the judiciary.

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The petitioners believe that without this time period, the constitutional and democratic system will also be in danger. The honour, dignity and vision of the judiciary will also be insulted because if the government has any objection to any name, then it should be shared with the Supreme Court. Advocate Harsh Vibhor Singhal said in the petition that if the government has no objection to any nominee proposed by the collegium but still fails to notify the appointment within the stipulated period, then the appointment of such judges should be deemed to automatically require notification.