SC judges meet CJI over Justice K M Joseph seniority issue
NEW DELHI: The oath-taking ceremony of three judges elevated to the Supreme Court - Justices Indira Banerjee, Vineet Saran and K M Joseph - will take place as scheduled on Tuesday in the order of seniority notified by the Centre.
Highly placed sources in the Supreme Court said that nothing much could be done at this stage and the concerns raised by some of the apex court judges would be discussed after the three judges are sworn in on Tuesday.
The sources said except Justice Ranjan Gogoi, a member of the apex court collegium who was on leave; others had “informally” deliberated on the Centre's alleged decision to lower down the seniority of Justice K M Joseph.
However, it was decided that the oath-taking ceremony should take place.
“Let the oath-taking take place. There is no time. The oath-taking can't be deferred. It has to be seen what can be done later,” one of the sources said about the discussion that was held among the judges on Monday morning at the judges' lounge before they commenced the day's working in the apex court.
Judges including members of the collegium comprising Justices M B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A K Sikri met Chief Justice Dipak Misra.
The sources said that the judges were of the view that there was a need to sit together and ponder over the issue.
They said that the CJI, who heads the collegium, assured the judges that he would consult Justice Gogoi who is the senior-most after him and take up the issue with the Centre.
The Centre on Friday last came out with the notification on the appointment of the three judges to the apex court by putting at number three the seniority of Justice K M Joseph.
In the notification, the names of Justice Indira Banerjee, Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, was at number one, followed by that of Justice Vineet Saran, Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court.
It is the convention that seniority of the judges is determined by order of names notified by the government.
The President signed the warrants of appointment of the three judges on August 3.
Justice Joseph's elevation to the apex court put an end to a protracted standoff between the government and the judiciary.
Justice K M Joseph, the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court, headed a bench which had quashed the imposition of President's Rule in the state in 2016. Uttarakhand was then under the Congress rule.
Facing the heat of opposition as well as judges of the Supreme Court over the issue of lowering the seniority of Justice KM Joseph, the government on Monday came out with facts stating that the decision has been taken as per the law and no ‘inappropriate' trend has been followed.
NEW DELHI: Facing the heat of opposition as well as judges of the Supreme Court over the issue of lowering the seniority of Justice KM Joseph, the government on Monday came out with facts stating that the decision has been taken as per the law and no ‘inappropriate' trend has been followed to decide the seniority of judges in the country.
According to a senior government official, the seniority of judges has been decided on the basis of the date on which they take the oath of a high court judge.
“The notification regarding the elevation of Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Vineet Saran is on the basis of their seniority only. Banerjee was appointed as High Court Judge on February 5, 2002, while Saran took the charge of HC Judge on February 14, 2002, and Joseph on October 14, 2004,” the official said, adding that both the judges are senior to Justice Joseph in all India seniority of high court judges.
As per the official, Justice Banerjee is at fourth place, while Justice Saran is at fifth, and Justice Joseph is at 39th place in all India seniority of HC judges, which means both the judges are much senior to Justice Joseph.
According to an official note issued by the Law Ministry, it has been stated that none of the three judges will become the Chief Justice of India as there are other Supreme Court judges who have been elevated to the Supreme Court and are senior to them.
Terming the allegations that government is trying to kill the prospects of Justice Joseph's elevation to the CJI level as baseless, the note said that Justice Joseph will retire on June 16, 2023, and Justice Chandrachud, who is senior to all the three judges, will continue till November 2014.
Citing the example of elevation of the incumbent CJI Justice Dipak Misra, the ministry through an official communiqué said, “Justice Misra had become HC judge on January 17, 1996, while Justice Chelameswar had become HC judge on June 23, 1997. Interestingly, Justice Chelameswar became Chief Justice of a high court in 2007, which is much earlier than Justice Misra as he became Chief Justice of HC in 2009.”
“Justice Misra retained the seniority over Justice Chelameswar as the appointment of Chief Justice of HC doesn't alter the all India seniority of HC judges,” the note said.
The President of India had on Friday appointed Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee, Orissa HC CJ Vineet Saran and Uttarakhand HC CJ K M Joseph as judges of the Supreme Court.
Notably, at present, the SC has 22 judges. With Friday's appointments, it will have six vacancies. With the elevation of Justice Banerjee, the SC will have a total of three woman judges, that includes Justices R Bhanumathi and Indu Malhotra.
Justice Joseph is, currently, the longest-serving Chief Justice of a HC in the country and has served as CJ of Uttarakhand for a little over four years. Justice Joseph will have a longer tenure as SC judge as compared to Justices Banerjee and Saran.