PTI, KOCHI: The government’s decision to send back the Supreme Court collegium’s recommendation for elevation of Uttarakhand Chief Justice K M Joseph as a judge of the top court was unprecedented and needed more detailed discussions, Justice Kurian Joseph, a member of the collegium, said today.
“Things that should not have happened had happened — that is the general feeling,” the apex court judge told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
He was replying to a question on the Centre returning the recommendation of the collegium and asking it to reconsider Justice K M Joseph’s elevation to the apex court.
“There is no precedent of the names recommended by the collegium being returned (by the Centre). So, more detailed discussions should take place (on the matter),” the Supreme Court judge said, without elaborating further.
The collegium had, on May 2, deferred a decision on the issue of reconsidering its recommendation to elevate Justice K M Joseph, after it was sent back by the government last month.
The five-member collegium, comprising Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, met after the apex court’s working hours, but no decision was taken as certain differences between the members could not be resolved.
