SC to hear plea of Guj HC advocates' body on elevation of Bombay HC judge Justice Akil Kureshi

The Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear on Friday the plea of Gujarat High Court's bar body seeking a direction to the Centre to implement the decision of the apex court Collegium on elevation of Bombay High Court judge Justice Akil Kureshi as the Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court.

The Collegium had initially recommended elevation of Justice Kureshi as Chief Justice (CJ) of the Madhya Pradesh and later, after taking note of the Centre's communication, it transferred him to the Tripura HC as the CJ.

The petition, filed by the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association (GHCAA), had alleged that the Collegium's recommendations have not been complied with by the Centre.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S A Bobde and S A Nazeer was told by senior advocate Arvind Datara, appearing for the GHCAA, that even the subsequent decisions are yet to be complied with by the central government.

"We will take it up on Friday," the bench said.

Appointment and transfer of judges form "the root of the administration of justice" and interference in that "does not augur well" for the institution, the bench had said when the bar body had alleged that the Collegium's recommendations are not being implemented by the government.

The GHCAA, in its plea, had sought a direction to the Centre to implement the Supreme Court Collegium's recommendations on elevation and transfer of Justice Kureshi.

The Collegium, headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi, had recommended to the Centre to appoint justice Kureshi as the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

It later recommended that Justice Kureshi be appointed as the Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court.

Datar had said the plea of the bar body be kept pending till the central government implements the Collegium's recent recommendations of appointing Justice Kureshi as Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court.

The modified recommendation to send Justice Kureshi to Tripura High Court was later uploaded on the apex court's website and it said that the concerned decision was taken in the Collegium's meeting held on September 5.

Appointment of Justice Kureshi as chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh high court was recommended by the collegium on May 10 this year.

The GHCAA plea has claimed that the Centre did not clear the file for appointment of Justice Kureshi and on June 7 came out with a notification appointing Justice Ravi Shanker Jha as acting chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The association has contended that the reluctance of the Centre to appoint Justice Kureshi as chief justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court is against the procedure laid down in the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) and amounts to a violation of Articles 14 and 217 of the Constitution.

It has further said the inaction on the part of the Centre is an attack on the independence of the judiciary and diminishes the primacy of the judiciary in the matters of appointment and transfer of judges to the high courts and the Supreme Court.

GHCAA president Yatin Oza had reportedly said that Justice Kureshi was being singled out for an order passed by him in 2010, remanding current Union Home Minister Amit Shah in police custody.