Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on Wednesday termed “very unfortunate” speculative media reports on collegium meeting regarding judges’ appointment in the Supreme Court.
Stressing that the process of judges’ appointment is “sacrosanct” and has “dignity” attached to it, the CJI said that media must understand and recognise its sanctity.
The Chief Justice also said that the “speculative media reports” on appointments even before formalising resolution are counter-productive.
“There were instances of deserving career progression of bright talents getting marred because of such irresponsible reporting and speculation. This is very unfortunate and I am extremely upset about it,” he said while speaking at the speaking at the farewell of a judge, justice Navin Sinha.
“I appreciate the tremendous amount of maturity and responsibility displayed by majority of senior journalists and media houses in not speculating on such serious matter. Such professional journalists and ethical media are the real strength of the Supreme Court in particular and democracy in general,” he added.
Earlier today, reports said that the five-member Supreme Court Collegium headed by CJI Ramana has recommended nine names for appointment as judges in the apex court.
The names that have been recommended for the elevation to the top court inlcude Justice BV Nagarathna from the Karnataka High Court, who could become the first woman Chief Justice of India in 2027.
Besides Justice Nagarathna, two other women judges have been picked for the appointment — Justice Hima Kohli, the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court, and Justice Bela Trivedi, a Gujarat High Court judge, PTI reported, citing sources.
The other names, as per sources, are senior advocate and former Additional Solicitor General PS Narasimha, Justices Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, Vikram Nath, Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari, CT Ravi Kumar and MM Sundersh.
Following the retirement of Justice RF Nariman on August 12, the strength of judges in the top court had come down to 25 as against the sanctioned strength of 34, including the CJI.
Significantly, no appointment has been made after the superannuation of then CJI Ranjan Gogoi on March 19, 2019.
