Law

GoI once again returns SC collegium’s recommendation of appointing two lawyers as judges

Citing complaints, the Supreme Court collegium’s recommendation for the appointments of two lawyers as Allahabad High Court’s judges has been returned by the government for a second time.

The two lawyers chosen are Mohammad Mansoor and Basharat Ali Khan. Mansoor’s father is former Supreme Court judge late Saghir Ahmed. Saghir Ahmed is known for heading a working group formed by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Centre-State relations with special reference given to Jammu and Kashmir. The two lawyers have regularly been appearing as senior standing counsel in the Allahabad High Court.

The government had earlier returned the file which had the two references, giving complaints. However, the collegium had reiterated its recommendation, saying the complaints were frivolous. After the matter was kept pending for two and a half years, the recommendation to the collegium for reconsideration.

The government has also returned the name of advocate Nazir Ahmed Beig for elevation as the Jammu and Kashmir High Court judge. There was no reply given as to why his name had been returned. The names of Wasim Sadiq Nargal, Sindhu Sharma and district judge Rashid Ali Dar are under process by the Law Ministry.

The five member collegium, constituting the top five Supreme Court judges will have to be reconstituted with a new member after  Justice J Chelameswar retired on Friday.

“We made our attempts to set the things right according to our perception of what is wrong and what is right in that context. Since we concluded that we were not able to set the things right, we decided to inform the nation,” Justice Chelameswar said.

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