Even as the UPA Government showed signs of pulling back to avoid any confrontation with the judiciary by forwarding to the President the recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium with respect to elevation of three High Court chief justices, the issue refuses to die down.A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking directions to the Union Government to clear the collegium recommendations. The petitioner, advocate R K Kapoor, has asserted that the President is bound to go by the recommendation of the collegium, headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI), on appointment of apex court judges. The petition is expected to come up for mentioning on Friday.The recent recommendation of the names of Madras HC CJ A K Ganguli, Patna HC CJ R M Lodha and Kerala HC CJ H L Dattu by the SC collegium had been questioned by the PMO on the advice of the Union Law Minister H R Bhardwaj, as some other HC CJs senior to these three had been left out. However, after the PMO sent the file back to the collegium for reconsideration, the same was returned within a couple of days without any changes being made.Quoting the Constitution and judicial pronouncements with regard to procedure to be adopted for appointment of judges, Kapoor has asserted that the collegium has the final say on elevation of HC CJs to the apex court and neither the PMO nor any other executive authority could intervene in the matter. The petition says as per Articles 141 and 144 of the Constitution, the Executive and the President are bound to appoint apex court judges as per the recommendations made by the collegium.Questioning the Government’s claim that seniority of some HC chief justices was overlooked, the petitioner quoted the Constitution Bench’s observation on the matter. Kapoor has said that in view of judicial pronouncements, the Centre cannot withhold the file containing the collegium’s proposal on elevation of the three HC CJs.Meanwhile, sources said the names of the three other HC CJs — Delhi HC CJ A P Shah, Madhya Pradesh HC CJ A K Patnaik and Uttarakhand HC CJ V K Gupta — who were left out despite being senior to the trio, were “considered and deliberated upon” before the collegium made its recommendation. “There are a number of factors other than seniority that are considered before the collegium arrives at a decision,” explained the source.
