The Supreme Court has warned the Central Government on the delay in transfer and appointments of judges. We should not be forced to take a stand which is inconvenient, the apex court said. Delay in approval of the recommendations of the Collegium can lead to both administrative and judicial action. It cannot be called pleasant. To this, the Center assured that the five appointments would be done by Sunday.

A bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Abhay S Oka expressed displeasure over the Centre’s attitude to Attorney General R Venkataramani. The bench was hearing a contempt petition filed by the Advocates’ Association, Bangalore.

Indecision is a very serious matter

The bench told the Attorney General, the Center is not taking a decision on the transfer of High Court judges. This is a very delicate and serious matter. In such a situation, we have to take a difficult decision.

  • The AG said, the court should not take anything on record as it is being worked upon.
  • The bench asked, if the work is going on, when will it be completed? Things have been like this for years.
  • The AG said, the recommendations for five judges of the Supreme Court will be implemented soon. Appointments can be made till Sunday. To this, the bench gave a week’s time to the Center to take a decision on the recommendations.

The recommendation was made in December

The collegium had recommended the elevation of Justice Pankaj Mittal, Justice Sanjay Karol, Justice PV Sanjay Kumar, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice Manoj Mishra to the Supreme Court on December 13, 2022.

On January 31, Justice Rajesh Bindal, Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, and Justice Arvind Kumar, Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court, were also recommended for elevation as judges in the Supreme Court.

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