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It is incumbent upon the Union Government to clear the names recommended by the Collegium, and make the appointments, within a reasonable time frame. Once a name has been reiterated by the Collegium, there is no option but for the government to make the appointment, the petition submits
The Jharkhand Government has moved Supreme Court of India in a contempt petition against the Centre's non-clearance of the Resolution passed by the Collegium appointing the Chief Justice for the Jharkhand High Court.
Notably, the High Court has been functioning under an acting Chief Justice since last 9 months except for a brief period of 15 days when regularly appointed Chief Justice BR Sarangi took over office.
Concerned with the extraordinary delays in the appointment of Judges to the High Court of Jharkhand as well as the rest of the High Courts across the country, which is detrimental to the cherished principle of the independence of the judiciary, the state government has said this inordinate delay is in direct contravention of the decision of a Nine Judges bench in the Second Judges case.
The plea adds that it is a very dangerous precedent if the Executive confers upon itself the power to implement only those binding recommendations that are to its liking and choose not to implement the others.
Arguing Chief Justice of the High Court performs important administrative functions and not having a Chief Justice affects the administration of Justice in the State, the petition submits, "The Collegium had acted promptly and recommended well in advance the vacancy arising on the post of Chief Justice of Jharkhand on 11.07.2024. By not acting on the collegium resolution would result in affecting the administration of Justice in the State of Jharkhand.".
Filed through Advocate Jayant Mohan, the petition has been filed for gross non-compliance of the directions issued in 2021 in a Transfer Petition (C) No. 2419 of 2019 being M/s PLR Projects Pvt. Ltd. v. Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. & Ors., by which a time schedule was set for the appointment of Judges.
In July this year, the Collegium had recommended for the transfer of Mr. Justice MS Ramachandra Rao (Chief Justice, Hon’ble High Court of Himachal Pradesh as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Jharkhand, but even after the passing of more than 8 weeks’ time, his transfer remains pending.
Case Title: State of Jharkhand vs. Rajiv Mani
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