Punjab & Haryana High Court: To stick with Manjunath’s name for CJ or not? SC yet to decide

Sources in the Ministry of Law also confirmed that the collegium has so far not informed the government about its stand on the issue.

As first reported by The Indian Express, the NDA government had asked the collegium to reconsider its recommendation on the appointment of Justice Manjunath in view of the strongly worded adverse note written by a senior Supreme Court judge, who had questioned the move to elevate Manjunath, the senior-most judge of the Karnataka HC, as Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana HC.

This senior SC judge, who was earlier associated with the Karnataka HC, had sent a detailed note listing the reasons why he opposed the move.

However, while recommending Justice Manjunath’s name, the collegium reportedly ignored this adverse note without citing any reasons.

The government had decided against clearing the judge’s name in view of the fact that the collegium, while making its recommendation, had not given any reason for ignoring the opposition by the senior judge.

Media reports had said the collegium headed by Chief Justice of India R M Lodha had rejected the Law Ministry’s objections as “baseless and unfounded” and had reiterated its earlier recommendation.

Among other things, Justice Manjunath was at the centre of controversy after it was reported that he was part of the bench scheduled to hear a PIL that was likely to have an impact on the fate of a housing society where his daughter had been allotted a plot.

There were certain other serious allegations too against him, cited as reasons by the SC judge for opposing the proposal to post him to Chandigarh as Chief Justice.

The NDA government’s decision to send back the recommendation was the second in less than month, the first one being when it “unilaterally segregated” former Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium’s name from the panel of four recommended for appointment as Supreme Court judges.

The CJI had publicly disapproved the decision, even writing to Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad telling him that the government should not adopt such “unilateral segregation” in the future.

However, the situation has changed following former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju’s claims that former CJI R C Lahoti buckled under pressure from the then UPA government to allow a “corrupt” Madras HC judge continue in office.

Questions are being raised over the collegium system, with the latest round of government’s tussle with the judiciary over control of judicial appointments going to the Narendra Modi government.