New Delhi, Dec 8, 2022: On Thursday, the Supreme Court once again criticized the Centre over delays in judges’ appointments as it highlighted that the government must follow the collegium system, which is the law of the land.
The court directed Attorney General R Venkataramani to advise Union Ministers to exercise control over their public criticism of the collegium system, saying the statements which were passed recently are “not being taken very well”.
“If every section of society starts laying down which law is to be followed & which isn’t to be followed then it’ll be breakdown. If you want to bring some other law you can always bring some law if it stands scrutiny,” said the top court.
On the central government returning several names, the bench opined, “Nineteen names were sent back. How will this ping-pong battle settle? When the HC collegium clears name, and the collegium clears the name, there are many factors involved. There is some hierarchy.”
On Wednesday, the Union Government had told the Supreme court that the binding the President of India to a timeline in matters of judicial appointments is “not appropriate”, while relaying many concerns over engaging the services of retired judges to combat massive pendency of cases across the high courts of India.
Last week, referring to itself as the “most transparent institution”, the apex court said the collegium system should not be done with on the basis of statements of “some busybody.”
