Union Government is eroding judicial independence by its control over appointments

WHILE the Supreme Court and the Union Government are locking horns in matters concerning the appointment of judges to the higher judiciary, it has come out in the public domain that at-least on two occasions, the Supreme Court Collegium gave in to the wishes of the Union Government by recalling its recommendations for two names which were already reiterated by it.

This is quite strange and goes against what a bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul has been repeatedly telling the government – that once a name is reiterated, the appointment has to be made. In fact, the bench, which also comprised Justices Abhay S. Oka and Vikram Nath, pleaded ignorance of the Collegium's decision withdrawing the reiterated names and, thus, it recorded in its order passed on December 8:

"We are not aware in what special circumstances were these names sent back a second time and dropped but we are sure the Collegium will keep this thought process in mind while now dealing with the second time reiterated names i.e, the judgment of the Court extracted aforesaid."

The bench did not stop there. It also said that the sending back a second time of reiterated names would be in breach of the decision of the Constitution Bench in the Second Judges case in 1993, which mandates that if the recommendation is unanimously reiterated, with reasons for not withdrawing the recommendation, then that appointment as a matter of healthy convention ought to be made.