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Centre holds no grudge against him for Uttarakhand ruling, says Law Minister
Amid a controversy over Justice K.M. Joseph losing out on his seniority, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told The Hindu that the government doesn’t have any “prejudice or bias against the honourable judge.”
“I have no comments to make on a judicial appointment but the government has not been influenced by any bias on his verdict with regard to President’s rule in Uttarakhand for two clear reasons. One, there is a proper BJP government after election with three-fourth majority. And second, that order of Justice Joseph was confirmed by Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Kehar (J.S. Kehar), both of whom have gone on to become Chief Justice of India in our government,” said Mr. Prasad, when asked to comment on the seniority controversy.
He refused to get into the specifics even as Congress MP from Kerala, K.C. Venugopal, had raised the matter in the Lok Sabha without naming Justice Joseph.“One of the judges has been appointed and, actually, the collegium has recommended his name four months before. The government did not give its assent for his appointment….We parliamentarians would like to know what was his fault,” said Mr. Venugopal, referring to the Centre’s decision to return Justice Joseph’s file back to the SC collegium in April after clearing Indu Malhotra, the other name recommended for elevation.
The move was interpreted as the Centre conveying its displeasure with Justice Joseph for his April 2016 judgment that quashed President’s rule in Uttarakhand.
Officials pointed out that Justice Joseph is two and a half years junior to Justices lndira Banerjee and Vineet Saran in all-India seniority of HC judges. They said while Justice Banerjee was appointed as a HC judge on February 5, 2002, Justice Saran became a a HC judge eight days later. Justice Joseph was appointed as a HC judge only on October 14, 2004.
Pointing that none of the three judges will become the Chief Justice of India (CJI) as there are other SC judges who are senior but will retire later, the senior official said, “In the all-lndia seniority of High Court judges, Justice Banerjee is at number 4 while Justice Saran is at number 5. Justice Joseph is at the 39th place.”
Sources pointed that though retired Supreme Court judge, Justice J. Chelameswar, had become a Chief Justice of a HC before Justice Dipak Misra the latter was senior to him in the HC judges seniority list.
Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/no-bias-against-justice-joseph/article24618805.ece
