NEW DELHI: The Centre has elevated Justice KM Joseph to the Supreme Court, but his name listed last in the sequence put out by the Apex Court Registry for the oath-taking ceremony on August 7 has troubled some fellow judges, who are going to raise the issue on Monday with the Chief justice of India Dipak Misra.
As per the norm, Justice Joseph, who was appointed to the Apex Court late on Friday night, should have been given precedence over the other two judges, namely Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Vineet Saran, as his name was recommended for elevation earlier in January this year. However, he will serve a term of over four years.
According to Centre's notification with regard to the appointment of these three judges, the order of seniority was Justice Banerjee, Justice Saran and Justice Joseph. They will be sworn in by CJI Misra on Tuesday.
The appointment of Justice Joseph on Friday ended a protracted stand-off between the government and the judiciary. The Collegium had recommended Justice Joseph's name on January 10 this year with the name of senior counsel Indu Malhotra, who is now a Supreme Court judge, but the government, citing "lack of seniority" and inadequate regional representation of some states in the Apex Court, returned the file. His name was sent again on July 16.
According to a source, the seniority issue will be discussed with the CJI during the morning customary tea on Monday.
"Justice Joseph's name was just reiterated and not a new decision of the Collegium, so by that norm he should be sworn in first before Justices Banerjee and Saran," the source said adding this is another case of interference by the Centre in the judiciary’s works and will not be tolerated.
A judge in the Supreme Court gets seniority from the day he takes oath. If more than one takes oath on the same day, the one who is sworn in first becomes the seniormost among them.
The earlier rejection by the government was criticised by members of the legal fraternity as well as the opposition parties. The Congress accused the government of being vindictive towards Justice Joseph due to a ruling he gave in 2016 against the BJP government in Uttarakhand, cancelling President's Rule in the state and bringing the Congress government of Harish Rawat back in the state.
Justice Joseph's father K K Mathew was a judge of the Supreme Court of India, and chairman of tenth Law Commission. With the Centre clearing the appointment of the three judges, the present strength of Apex Court judges comes to 25 but there would still be six vacancies.