Former Delhi High Court Judge, Justice (Retired) Fakhruddin has supported the Supreme Court's assertion which rapped the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Government over the delay in appointment of judges stating that the Centre's indecisiveness over the appointment cannot be tolerated.
"If they (Centre) have any objection, it could have been conveyed to the judiciary, the collegium would have decided appropriately but Centre cannot sit over the files. This is something which cannot be tolerated in a civilized society especially in a vibrant democracy like ours," he told ANI.
He said that the Centre must rise to the occasion and should not give opportunity to the apex court inviting criticism.
Echoing similar views, former Delhi High Court judge Justice R.S. Sodhi said that the tiff between Centre and the judiciary is making the whole justice system suffer and asked the Centre to tone down its stand.
"Both the sides are taking very hard stand but the system itself is suffering which must be avoided at all costs," he said.
"There is no doubt that the collegium system, itself, is a judicial hijack of the constitution but now that it has been accepted and it is the system that is going to govern the appointments the government should also see the writing on the wall and tone down its stand," he added.
Chief Justice of India, T.S Thakur yesterday had sent stern message to the Centre over non-execution of collegium's decision to transfer and appoint Chief Justices and judges of High Courts.
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Thakur sought a reply from Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi within in four weeks over the delay in appointment of judges as recommended by the collegium.
Slamming the government over the delay he said, 'don't force us to pass orders to remove logjam.'
The apex court asserted that the time has come to take judicial note of appointments and transfers which have not been made despite Collegium clearance eight months ago.
Regarding the collegium, the apex court stated that 75 names of high court judges have been cleared but have not been approved.
"The vacancies in high courts have increased to 43 per cent when the pendency in high courts has reached to four million cases. If the government has any objection on the names, it should be sent back to the collegiums with relevant matter, but the process can't be stalled," the court observed.