SC refuses to stay Indu Malhotra's appointment as apex court judge

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 26

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stay the appointment of senior advocate Indu Malhotra as a judge of the top court, terming it "unthinkable".

"What kind of prayer is this? It is unthinkable, unimaginable, inconceivable and never heard of," a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra told senior advocate Indira Jaising after she mentioned an urgent petition seeking stay of Malhotra's elevation as a Supreme Court judge.

“Is it a demolition matter or a question of personal liberty? There is no question of staying the warrant of appointment," said the Bench, which also included Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud.

The warrant of her appointment is understood to have been signed by the President and she is to take oath on Friday. Her name was recommended by the collegium in January along with that of Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice KM Joseph for appointment as SC judges.

Accusing the government of cherry picking, Jaising said the government has cleared her appointment while withholding that of Justice Joseph because he had delivered an "unpalatable" verdict with regard to President' rule in Uttarakhand.

The Bench told Jaising that her prayer was problematic. Often the collegium recommended 30-35 names for bigger high courts and the government withheld a few while going ahead with the appointment of the rest.

"We don't know what is the position. May be the government has returned Justice Joseph's file for reconsideration. We don't know. We will consider it," the Bench said.

However, it said it was ready to consider the larger issue and the petition would be taken up in due course.

The issue of appointment of judges in the Supreme Court and high courts has been in the news since the top court declared the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) in October 2015.

While the government and the judiciary indulged in slugfest, vacancies in various high courts rose to the highest level. Even the Supreme Court is functioning with only 26 judges against a sanctioned strength of 31 judges.

Malhotra's appointment will take the number of judges in the top court to 27.