Kerala AG slams Centre again for delay in clearing Collegium recommendations

Kerala Advocate General (AG) Gopalakrishna Kurup on Wednesday criticised the Central government's repeated interference with the Supreme Court Collegium's recommendations for appointment of judges to the constitutional courts, particularly High Courts.

Kurup was speaking at the swearing-in ceremony for five additional judges at the Kerala High Court today.

In particular, the AG referred to delay in appointment of judicial officer PP Krishna Kumar, who was sworn in as a High Court judge today along with four other judges.

"One among the Lords, Justice PP Krishna Kumar, would have been sworn in exactly a year ago on 25.10.2023, had it not been for the much-criticized executive tinkering with the collegium decision," Kurup said.

He then flagged repeated instances of appointments to the constitutional courts getting delayed.

"Though a cliche, I may say, 'better late than never', for we have manifold instances of repeatedly reiterated recommendations (by) the Supreme Court Collegium regarding appointments to constitutional courts gathering dust at the annals of the Union Executive for no tenable reason," Kurup remarked.

Kurup has been vocal about the alleged interference by the government in judicial appointments.

In October last year, he had taken exception to the Central government selectively clearing names recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium for appointment as High Court judges.

In April this year, he criticised the delay by the Central government in notifying the appointment of judges who have been recommended for elevation by the Supreme Court collegium.

Advocate Yeshwanth Shenoy, President of Kerala High Court Advocates Association, also commented on this issue today.

"Nothing can be more demoralizing than waiting for a warrant of appointment once the Collegium has made the recommendation. The Kerala High Court Advocates Association had taken up the issue with the law minister and we are happy that he obliged the bar," Shenoy said.

The Supreme Court Collegium had on October 10, 2023 recommended Justice Kumar's name, along with four other judicial officers, for elevation to the High Court.

"The assessment made by the Government of India in the file does not indicate anything adverse to the integrity or reputation of the officer. The Collegium has also had due regard to the track record of the officer. The Collegium has duly considered the observations made by the Government of India on the file. While it is correct that the officer has completed 10 years of qualifying service recently, the Collegium also notes that since he was a direct recruit to the Higher Judicial Service, he would also have experience as an advocate prior to his appointment as a judicial officer," the Collegium had said then.

However, the Centre failed to clear Kumar's name. It compelled the top court Collegium to reiterate its recommendation when it recently passed a resolution for appointment of four more judicial officers as High Court judges.

"By recommendation dated 10 October 2023, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended names of five Judicial Officers including the name of Shri P Krishna Kumar for elevation as Judges of the High Court of Kerala. Out of these, four Judicial Officers have been appointed. However, nothing has been intimated by the Government to the Collegium with regard to the status of Shri P Krishna Kumar," the Collegium said on October 15.

The Collegium had also said that Kumar shall rank above these four judicial officers in inter se seniority when the appointments take place.

The same has been done by the Centre now.

While the recommendation for his proposal remained pending, Kumar was serving as the Registrar General (RG) of the High Court.

Pertinently, as the RG, he had to read out the appointment letters of the other judges who had been recommended for elevation by way of the same resolution in which he was first recommended by the Collegium in 2023.