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The Supreme Court on Friday, expressed displeasure at the Law Ministry for keeping appointments of judges pending, after the collegium has given them a go-ahead.

A bench of Justices SK Kaul & Abhay S Okay noted that that keeping names of judges on hold is not acceptable and that it is resisting issuance of contempt as of now, while issuing notice to the law secretary.

The bench said that the inaction of the executive to confirm the appointments was being used as "some sort of a device to compel these persons to withdraw their names".

The bench made these observations in a petition filed by the Advocates Association Bengaluru, which has stated that "inordinate delays in the appointment of Judges to the Hon’ble High Courts after the recommendation by the Collegium headed by Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India even after reiteration, is a direct contravention of the judgment dated 06.10.1993 passed by a Bench of Nine Hon’ble Judges of this Hon’ble Court in the Second Judges case (M/s PLR Projects Pvt. Ltd. v. Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd.)."

It is submitted by the petitioners that the law laid down in the Second Judges case, and reiterated in the Third Judges case, is emphatically clear that once the name of a recommendee has been reiterated by the Collegium headed by the Chief Justice of India, the Government of India has no option of returning the name, and must make the appointment.

It is further submitted that the unreasonable delays in the matters of appointment after recommendations have been made by the Collegium headed by Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India, is detrimental to the recomendees.

The plea has sought direction for the contemnor to strictly comply with the time frame and refrain from segregating the names of the recommendees sent by the Collegium.

The petition further states that "the selective segregation of recommendees for appointment made the Collegium headed by Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India has made recommendations in terms of the law laid down in the Second Judges case, would affect the seniority of the recomendee, and would therefore be a subversion of the law laid down in the Second Judges case."

The following names have been mentioned in the petition, who have been recommended but are not appointed yet:

• Shri. Jaytosh Majumdar (Advocate) from Calcutta High Court
• Shri. Amitesh Banerjee (Advocate) from Calcutta High Court
• Shri. Raja Basu Chowdhury (Advocate) from Calcutta High Court
• Smt. Lapita Banerji (Advocate) from Calcutta High Court
• Smt. Moksha Kazmi (Khajuria) (Advocate) from Jammu & Kashmir High Court
• Shri. Rahul Bharti (Advocate) from Jammu & Kashmir High Court
• Shri. Nagendra Ramachandra Naik (Advocate) from Karnataka High Court
• Shri. Aditya Sondhi (Advocate) from Karnataka High Court
• Shri. Umesh Chandra Sharma (Judicial Officer) from Allahabad High Court
• Shri. Syed Waiz Mian (Judicial Officer) from Allahabad High Court
• Shri. Sakya Sen (Advocate) from Calcutta High Court

Case Title: The Association of Advocates Bengaluru Vs. Shri Barun Mitra, Secretary (Justice) & Anr.