SC Collegium reiterates names of Justices Bose, Bopanna for elevation to apex court

Rejecting the government's objections, the Supreme Court Collegium has reiterated its recommendation to elevate Justices Aniruddha Bose and A S Bopanna to the apex court, observing that nothing adverse has been found regarding their competence, conduct or integrity.

The collegium has also recommended names of Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant for elevation to the apex court.

The two resolutions of the Collegium were made public on the apex court's website on Thursday.

The 5-member Collegium headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had met on Wednesday and deliberated on the issue of elevation of the four high court judges.

"In view of the above, on due consideration of all aspects mentioned in the file, the Collegium resolves to reiterate the aforementioned recommendation dated 12th April, 2019, especially since nothing adverse regarding competence, conduct or integrity of Justices Aniruddha Bose, and A S Bopanna, has been pointed out," the Collegium said in its May 8 resolution.

The government had earlier returned the names of the two judges, citing seniority and representation of regions as the reasons.

Justice Bose, whose parent high court is Calcutta, is the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court and is at number 12 in all-India seniority of judges.

Justice Bopanna, whose parent high court is Karnataka, is the Gauhati High Court Chief Justice and stands at number 36.

The government had returned Justice Bose's name to the Collegium last year as well when he was recommended to head the Delhi high court.

Justice Gavai is a judge of the Bombay High Court and Justice Kant is the incumbent Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court."

While recommending the names of Justice B R Gavai and Surya Kant, the Collegium has taken into consideration combined seniority on all-India basis of Chief Justices and senior puisne Judges of High Courts, apart from their competence, conduct and integrity," said the Collegium, also comprising Justices S A Bobde, N V Ramana, Arun Mishra and R F Nariman, in its May 8 resolution.

It added: "The Collegium has also kept in mind the desirability of giving due representation on the Bench of the Supreme Court, as far as possible, to all the High Courts as well as to all sections of the society including those belonging to SC/ST/OBC categories, women and minorities. We are also conscious of the fact that some High Courts have remained unrepresented in the Supreme Court "The Collegium, therefore, recommends that Justice B R Gavai and Surya Kant, be appointed as Judges in the Supreme Court of India."

As against the sanctioned strength of 31 judges, the apex court is currently functioning with 27 judges.