“Malayalam is not an issue, Malayalam exam can be held”, SC on Central Selection Mechanism for judges

The Supreme Court today asked Amicus Curiae Arvind Datar to submit a concept note in relation to the central selection mechanism for selecting judges to subordinate judiciary across the country..A Bench comprising Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justices AK Goel and AM Khanwilkar issued this direction to allay the concerns and objections raised by various High Courts regarding evolving a new mechanism for conducting the selection to judiciary..When the hearing began today at 3 pm, Datar said that certain High Courts including Kerala, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana and West Bengal have given unfavourable response to the proposal of the Supreme Court..Uncertainty of exam in vernacular language, reservation policies of States etc. were some of the concerns raised by the High Courts..However, the Bench was surprised that these issues were raised since the Court had made it clear in its order of July 10 that the mechanism will not affect the current rules prevalent in individual States but will only bring in a single common body to conduct exams for different States..“I think they have not understood what we are trying to do. The Rules in individual States will remain, only that the process of selection would be centralised. Malayalam language is not an issue, we will hold Malayalam exam.”.The Bench also expressed its surprise at the objections as the CJI had apparently taken the Chief Justices of all High Courts into confidence earlier this month on this particular issue..“All Chief Justices had agreed to common selection process with respect to District Judges cadre”, remarked CJI Khehar..The Amicus, however, pointed out that some of the objections were made by High Courts prior to the order passed by Supreme Court on July 10 clarifying its stance..However, Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for Calcutta High Court told the Bench that the High Court has objected to the proposal..The Bench had a lengthy discussion. It then decided that in order to take all High Courts into confidence and avoid confusion, a concept note explaining the contours of the proposal should be placed before the Court by Amicus Curiae indicating how the objections raised by few High Courts have been taken care of by the July 10 order of the Court..“We are tentatively of the view that the objections raised by few High Courts on centralisation of selection process has been dealt with by our order of July 10, 2017. It seems some confusion still persist…..we consider it appropriate to request Amicus Curiae to prepare a concept note indicating how the objections raised by the few High Courts stand satisfied.”.The matter will now be heard on August 4.