Centre rejects names for HC judges: Another face-off between judiciary, executive likely

The Central government has rejected the nominations of two lawyers as judges of High Court, as recommended by the Supreme Court collegium. This is set to trigger another face-off between the judiciary and the executive.

The names of the two lawyers — Mohammad Mansoor and Basharat Ali Khan — recommended as judges of the Allahabad High Court were returned by the Centre, citing complaints against them. Mansoor is the son of former Supreme Court judge late Saghir Ahmed, who was also the head of a working group on Jammu and Kashmir set up by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to study fresh relation between the state and the Centre.

The Modi government had on an earlier occasion also returned the file recommending the two names, citing complaints against the candidates. But the collegium reiterated its recommendation, terming the complaints as frivolous. Last month, the recommendation was returned by the government to the collegium for reconsideration, after keeping the matter pending for over two-and-a-half years. After Justice J Chelameswar retired on Friday, the five-member collegium — a body of top five Supreme Court judges — will have to be reconstituted. The collegium, with a new member Justice AK Sikri will now have to take a call on the two names.

The two lawyers have been regularly appearing as senior standing counsel in the Allahabad High Court. Meanwhile, the government has also decided to return the name of advocate Nazir Ahmed Beig for elevation as the Jammu and Kashmir High Court judge. The names of three others — Wasim Sadiq Nargal, Sindhu Sharma and district judge Rashid Ali Dar — are being processed by the Law Ministry.