Collegium issue: SC raises concern over govt 'picking and choosing' candidates

Supreme Court warns centre over collegium

The Supreme Court on November 7 raised concern over the government selectively clearing the appointments of candidates from collegium recommendations, court noted that this habit of 'pick and choose' is worrisome.

The court made these statements in the context of appointments to High Courts.

According to the court, when the collegium makes multiple recommendations for judgeship, the government must clear them in the order the recommendation was made and not 'pick and choose'.

Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, who was leading the bench remarked that if the government chooses to appointment some persons from collegium recommendations over the others, it disincentives the prospective candidates.

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The court further warned the government of unpalatable actions if they do not act on the pending collegium recommendations for appointment and transfers. The court noted that 14 first time recommendations and 5 reiterated recommendations are currently pending with the government. The court will now hear the case on November 20.

As per the existing norms, once a high court collegium recommends a candidate for judgeship, it is forwarded to state government for opinion. The state forwards it to the Centre for inputs. The government conducts a series of background checks through intelligence agencies and sends it forward to the SC collegium with their inputs. The entire process is expected to be completed within a period of four months.

The SC has warned the Centre a few times since November 2022 over the delay in processing collegium recommendations. In February 2023, the SC warned the Centre of unpalatable actions if the recommendations are not processed on time.

The controversy surrounding the collegium system of appointments came to a head when former law minister Kiren Rijiju wrote to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) suggesting that a representative of the government be included in the search-cum-evaluation committee. The controversy has since died down, however lawyers are still divided on the collegium system of appointment of judges.

The Supreme Court was hearing a plea pertaining to the delay in clearing names for elevation proposed by the collegium. As per Supreme Court’s judgment in PLR Projects versus Mahanadi Coal Fields (2019), once the collegium reiterates its recommendation for an appointment, the Union government cannot delay in clearing the person’s appointment. In 2015, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the collegium system in the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) case.