Two SC judges meet chief justice on lowering of seniority of newly-sworn in K.M. Joseph
06 Aug 2018
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Two Supreme Court judges met chief justice Dipak Misra on Monday and expressed concerns over the Centre’s decision to lower the seniority of justice K M Joseph among the three new judges to be sworn in on Tuesday.
According to reports, the chief justice told them he would consult justice Ranjan Gogoi, the senior-most judge after him – and who wasn’t present at the meeting on Monday – and take up the matter with the government.
Justices M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph met chief justice Misra in the morning and reportedly complained to him about the government action.
On Friday, the government issued a notification on the appointment of three judges and Joseph’s name was ranked third after Indira Banerjee, the former chief justice of Madras high court and Vineet Saran, the former chief justice of Orissa high court.
The Supreme Court collegium had recommended Joseph’s name for elevation to the apex court in January. However, the government refused on the grounds that he lacked seniority and that there would be ‘over-representation’ of judges from Kerala in the Supreme Court.
The recommendation was resent by the collegium to the government in July. This time, it was accepted, but his name came up third after the other two judges.
As chief justice of Uttarakhand high court, Joseph had struck down the dismissal of the Congress government and imposition of President’s Rule in the state in 2016.
.webp)
