SC to hear plea on govt delays over appointment of judges in higher judiciary after 8 weeks

The Supreme Court Friday said it would hear after eight weeks a plea which has alleged that the Centre has been "indefinitely sitting" on the names recommended by the apex court collegium for appointment of judges in the higher judiciary.

The plea, stating that the government cannot "frustrate" the process of appointment of judges in the apex court and high courts in "an oblique way" by sitting on collegium's recommendations and not responding to names reiterated by it, came up for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

Senior lawyer Dushyant Dave and advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), told the bench that the Centre has been sitting on several names for appointment as judges in the higher judiciary.

The bench, also comprising Justices K M Joseph and Hemant Gupta, asked Dave whether he knew the number of names which the collegium has reiterated to the Centre.

Dave said, "As far as I know, there are 13 names".

To this, the CJI told Dave, "It is three times more. Papers are lying on my table."