SC refuses to quash nomination

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to quash Justice Dalveer Bhandari’s nomination as a judge to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

A Bench of Justice Altamas Kabir, Justice J Chelameswar and Justice Ranjan Gogoi initially wanted to outrightly dismiss the plea for quashing Justice Bhandari’s nomination to the ICJ, but later allowed counsel Prashant Bhushan to withdraw it, treating it as ‘dismissed as withdrawn’.

Appearing for the petitioner, Bhushan contended that Justice Bhandari’s nomination should not be permitted as it compromised the judiciary’s independence.

Asked as to how the independence of the judiciary was compromised due to the nomination of the apex court judge, Bhushan told the Bench that Justice Bhandari was a sitting Supreme Court judge and the Government of India has a large number of cases in the court.

The Bench also questioned the petitioner’s locus standi and wondered if there was any public interest involved in the issue.

Bhushan said it was like a sitting Supreme Court judge offering himself for a seat in the Lok Sabha and allowing the political parties to lobby for him.