Collegium judges meet CJI; ask to reiterate Justice Joseph’s name: Updates

Here is all you need to know about the controversy surrounding Justice Joseph’s proposed elevation to Supreme Court that has led to another Centre-Judiciary face-off

Current Affairs : Although the much speculated Supreme Court Collegium meeting did not take place on Wednesday, four of the five senior most judges reportedly met at the chamber of CJI Dipak Misra to discuss the reiteration of Justice K M Joseph’s name for elevation to the apex court.

An apex court official said while there was a likelihood of the meeting being held on Wednesday, it was for the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra to fix the date but as of now there is no official word on it.

There is no official confirmation when the Collegium would meet," the official said, adding that "it is obvious that the agenda of the meeting would be the elevation of Justice Joseph to the apex court".

According to The Indian Express, Justices Ranjan Gogoi,Kurian Joseph and Madan Lokur met Chief Justice Dipak Misra in his chambers around 4.15 pm. Justice J Chelameswar, the senior-most Supreme Court judge who led a virtual revolt against the CJI, was not present in the meeting as he was on leave. The English daily, however, reports that he has written to the members of the Collegium reiterating Justice K M Joseph’s name for elevation to the Supreme Court.

The Collegium had earlier met on May 2, but had deferred a decision on the issue of reconsidering its recommendation to elevate Justice Joseph as the judge of the apex court, after it was sent back by the government last week.

In a related development, Justice J Chelameswar, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court who retires on June 22, has declined an invitation from the Supreme Court Bar Association(SCBA) for his farewell function citing personal reasons.

Justice Chelameswar had recently courted controversy by holding a press conference along with other three senior most judges -- Justices Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph -- on January 12, in which litany of allegations were made against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

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