New Delhi, Nov. 2: Supreme Court judge Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha on Monday recused himself from hearing a public interest litigation by NGO Lok Prahari seeking finalisation of the Memorandum of Procedure laying down the process for appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts.
As the matter came up before a bench comprising Justice Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe, Justice Narasimha said he had earlier appeared as Additional Solicitor General in a similar matter concerning the MoP and therefore would not hear the petition.
Besides seeking finalisation of the appointment procedure, the PIL has also sought directions to bring decisions of the Supreme Court Collegium within the ambit of the Right to Information Act.
The petition contends that appointments to the constitutional courts should be based on the unanimous view of the Collegium after taking into account the criteria identified by the Supreme Court in its December 16, 2015 order.
The December 16, 2015 order by a five-judge Constitution Bench said that the Central government would finalise the Memorandum of Procedure in consultation with the Chief Justice of India, who, in turn, would act on the unanimous view of the Collegium comprising the four seniormost puisne judges of the Supreme Court.
The order identified several matters to be incorporated into the MoP, including eligibility criteria, transparency in appointments, creation of a secretariat, a mechanism for dealing with complaints and other appropriate measures.
The five-judge Constitution Bench that delivered the October 16, 2015 judgment striking down the NJAC as unconstitutional and subsequently passed the December 16, 2015 order comprised Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice J. Chelameswar, Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, all of whom have since retired.
The MoP, which lays down the procedure followed under the Collegium system, was originally framed in 1999. The question of revising it resurfaced after the five-judge Constitution Bench, on October 16, 2015, struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission. Subsequently, by its December 16, 2015 order, the Court left it to the Central government to prepare a revised procedure after considering suggestions for improving transparency in judicial appointments.
The issue of finalising the revised MoP also reached the Supreme Court judicially in 2017. On October 27 that year, a bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit (both since retired), while dealing with a petition by advocate R.P. Luthra said there should be no indefinite delay in finalising the MoP.
The bench observed that “there should be no further delay in finalization of MOP in larger public interest” and issued notice to the Attorney General while appointing senior advocate K.V. Vishwanathan as amicus curiae. K.V. Viswanathan is now a judge of the Supreme court.
The matter was subsequently placed before a three-judge bench comprising then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Amitava Roy, all of whom have since retired.
On November 8, 2017, the three-judge bench recalled the October 27 order and disposed of Luthra’s petition, holding that there was no necessity to proceed with the remaining prayers in view of the earlier judgments concerning the NJAC and the framing of the MoP.
Pramod kumar is a Senior Journalist, Covering Supreem Court of India
