The Union government has given an undertaking to the Supreme Court that those persons whose choice as judges of the high court are not opposed either by the government or the Chief Justice of India would be appointed soon. This is one small step forward in the present deadlock over the appointment of judges.
Attorney-general Soli Sorabjee gave this assurance when a petition filed by the an association called the "committee on judicial accountability" was taken up by a bench consisting of Justice S Saghir Ahmad and Justice K T Thomas.
The petition opposed the appointment of the controversial names.
Also Read
Last week, the same bench had issued notice to the government on a public interest petition filed by a lawyer, Mohan Lal Gupta, seeking the appointment of those persons recommended by the Chief Justice of India.
According to that petition, the Chief Justice has followed the norms laid down by the Supreme Court in its 1993 judgment in the Judges' case.
The present petition by the committee opposes this view as it maintains that the Chief Justice has not followed the norms set in that judgment.
The court ultimately posted the committee's petition to be heard along with Gupta's petition which will come up before the court on August 17, with the reply of the government on this controversy.
Earlier, the judges tried to persuade Shanti Bhushan, counsel for the committee, to withdraw the petition. However, he argued that since Gupta's public interest petition has been taken up, this one also should be heard by the court.