The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) has strongly criticised the Central Government for selectively delaying judicial appointments, especially in the cases of Advocate Swetashree Majumdar and Advocate Rajesh Datar, despite recommendations of the Supreme Court Collegium.
The organisation called upon the Supreme Court to actively intervene and seek a formal explanation from the Central government as to why the appointments of these advocates were not acted upon immediately. Both the candidates had withdrawn their consent after their names were withdrawn without any reasons being given, while the other recommended names were approved and appointed.
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"We condemn the unconstitutional and illegal move of the Central government in singling out the names of Ms Majumdar and Mr Datar from the other recommendations,"
CJAR said in its official statement. It further emphasised:
"The practice of picking and choosing names from the collegium's recommendations has no legal basis and is in direct violation of the Supreme Court's judgments in the Second Judge (1994) and Third Judge (1999) cases."
According to CJAR, the delay is not only unacceptable but also "unreasonable", especially when both the High Court and Supreme Court collegiums had approved the names. In comparison, CJAR recalled a similar incident in 2022, where senior advocate Aditya Sondhi had also withdrawn his consent due to unexplained delays.
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The statement pointed out that a writ petition filed in 2018 seeking directions from the Supreme Court to restrain the setting aside of timely judicial appointments and collegium recommendations is still pending. However, no effective judgment has been given by the Supreme Court in the matter so far.
"This continued delay is crippling the judicial appointment process," CJAR said, urging immediate corrective measures.
It warned that the "future of the independent judiciary is at stake", and the Supreme Court must act to prevent executive encroachments from undermining the judicial system.
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CJAR lauded the collegium's recent initiative to personally interview candidates before recommending names, but said such transparency and diligence would be futile if the Central government could arbitrarily reject or delay those recommendations.
“We believe that this effort will be in vain if the Union is permitted to reject qualified and suitable nominees without good cause.”
The organization concluded with a strong appeal to the Supreme Court to take immediate action and protect the independence of the judiciary, ensuring that established legal and constitutional processes are upheld without interference.