Govt notifies the elevation of Bombay HC chief justice to SC – Hindustan Times

Signifying a white flag in the ongoing row between the executive and the judiciary over the judges’ selection process, the Union government on Sunday notified the appointment of Bombay high court chief justice Dipankar Datta as a judge in the top court — more than two months after the recommendation was made by the collegium.

While justice Datta’s name was cleared early last week, the President signed off his warrant of appointment on Sunday morning. According to the Supreme Court administration, justice Datta will be sworn in as a judge of top court by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud on Monday at 10.30 am. He will have a tenure till February 2030. With justice Datta’s appointment, the Supreme Court will have a strength of 28 out of total 34 judges.

The Supreme Court collegium headed by the then CJI Uday Umesh Lalit had sent justice Datta’s name for elevation on September 26. The recommendation, however, remained stuck for over two months, during which a standoff between the executive and the judiciary came to fore.

Justice Datta’s appointment closely follows a war of words between government functionaries and Supreme Court judges over the manner in which judges are appointed to constitutional courts of the country.

As recently as on Thursday, the Supreme Court reminded the government that the latter is bound to follow the collegium system “to a T” because that is the law of the land, adding there will be a “breakdown” and an “infinite battle” if everyone starts choosing which law to follow.

Taking up a contempt plea against the Centre for delays in clearing names for judgeship, a bench headed by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had pointed out that the government is free to bring a new law to replace the collegium system, which may be put to the test of constitutionality if challenged.

“But till the time the collegium system is there as the law of the land, it has to be enforced,” it said.

During the Thursday hearing, the top court had also taken cognisance of statements made by certain “government functionaries” criticising the collegium system, and asked attorney general R Venkataramani to “advise them” to “exercise control”.

This advice came a day after Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar commented on the system of selecting judges for constitutional courts, in the course of his opening address after assuming the office of Rajya Sabha chairperson on Wednesday. Dhankhar, on Wednesday, said the Supreme Court’s 2015 judgment striking down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act was a “glaring instance” of “severe compromise” of parliamentary sovereignty and disregard of the “mandate of the people”.

Over the last two months, Union law minister Kiren Rijiju has been strongly criticising the collegium system, terming it “opaque”, “alien to the Constitution” and the only system in the world where judges appoint people who are known to them.

On Thursday, the apex court, however, told the AG: “We don’t go by what people feel or speak about the collegium system, rightly or wrongly, at the right place or the wrong place, but we will enforce what is the law of the land… Our job is to enforce the law as it stands today. If we can’t do that, we have no right to enforce the laws brought by you (government).”

People in the know of the matter said that justice Datta’s appointment could prove to be an ice-breaker, bringing the two institutions back on track in so far as judicial appointments are concerned. A collegium meeting, they added, is expected in the coming week to consider more names for the Supreme Court that will still have six vacancies after justice Datta’s appointment. Next year, as many as nine more judges are set to retire after turning 65.