Sensitive material holding up High Court Chief Justice appointments, says Attorney General

The implementation of the Supreme Court collegium’s recommendations for the appointment of chief justices of seven high courts has been delayed due to "sensitive material" with the Centre, Attorney General R. Venkatramani informed the Supreme Court on September 13, The Times of India reported. The collegium, which holds the final authority on appointments to constitutional courts, had made the recommendations nearly two months ago.

The Attorney General, addressing a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud, explained that the Centre had provided inputs of a sensitive nature, which were preventing the government from filing an affidavit on the matter. Venkatramani added that revealing these issues publicly could potentially harm both the institution and the individuals involved. He suggested submitting the inputs and his recommendations in a sealed cover for the court’s perusal, the ToI report added.

In response, the Supreme Court requested the Attorney General to "sort out" the concerns delaying the appointments. The bench, which was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the mandatory swift implementation of the collegium’s recommendations, deferred the hearing to next week, pending the Attorney General’s response.

The Supreme Court collegium had recommended the appointments on July 11. The list includes Justice Manmohan as Chief Justice (CJ) of the Delhi High Court, Justice Rajiv Shakdher as CJ of Himachal Pradesh, Justice Suresh Kumar Kaith as CJ of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Justice G.S. Sandhawalia as CJ of Madhya Pradesh, Justice N.M. Jamdar as CJ of Kerala, Justice Tashi Rabstan as CJ of Meghalaya, and Justice K.R. Shriram as CJ of Madras High Court.