Centre asks judiciary to reconsider 13 names

New Delhi: The rift between the Narendra Modi government and the judiciary escalated on Monday with the Centre informing the Supreme Court that it had sought reconsideration of the 13 names of Judges recommended by the collegium for the Allahabad High Court.

During the last hearing in November last, a Bench headed by the Chief Justice T.S. Thakur had told the Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi that the collegium had reiterated the recommendations in respect of 37 names and wanted the government to process their appointments. Despite Supreme Court collegium’s earlier reiteration, the Centre stood its ground and said it wanted the collegium to reconsider its decision in respect of 13 names. On Monday the Bench was also upset with Centre’s inordinate delay in giving effect to the transfer of judges as recommended by the collegium as early as in February 2016.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told a bench of Chief Justice T. S. Thakur that Centre had found “certain inconsistencies” in the recommendations made for 13 new judges for Allahabad High Court in the 37 names, reiterated” by the collegium on November 18 and had sent them back for reconsideration.

However, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani and Gujarat Bar Association president Yatin Ozha accused the Government of deliberately sitting over the files with regard to transfer of a particular judge from Gujarat HC since April 2016, despite the collegium’s recommendation.

The advocates alleged that while the name of the particular judge cleared for transfer by the apex court collegium has been kept pending, several other judges whose names were recommended have been cleared by the Centre.