Collegium agrees unanimously to send Justice KM Joseph's name for elevation to SC back to Centre

The Supreme Court collegium has unanimously agreed to send its nomination of Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice KM Joseph for elevation to the Supreme Court back to the Centre. 

The collegium had met today to discuss the issue after the Centre sent Justice Joseph's name back to the collegium on April 26 for reconsideration. 

The Centre's contention was that Kerala, where Justice Joseph hails from, is already adequately represented in the higher judiciary. And that Justice Joseph is not senior enough to be elevated to the Supreme Court. 

Justice Joseph is currently 41st in terms of seniority among high court judges. 

PTI reported earlier that the collegium deliberated on the issue for close to an hour. 

All the members of the collegium — Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph — were present at Friday's meeting. 

The decision to convene the meeting was taken late last evening by the CJI Misra. 

Justice Chelameswar, the seniormost judge of the Supreme Court, had written to CJI Misra yesterday urging him to convene the meeting and to also send the collegium's nomination of Justice KM Joseph's back to the Centre. 

PTI reported that in his letter, Justice Chelameswar told the CJI that he was reiterating his decision favouring the elevation of Justice Joseph as a judge of the top court as there was no change in the circumstances that had led the collegium to recommend his name to the government on January 10.

PTI added that Justice Chelameswar, who retires on June 22, had in his letter responded to all the points raised by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad when he sent back Justice Joseph's name to the collegium for reconsideration. 

(With inputs from PTI)