Recalling his recommendation to appoint J.As Chief Justice Justice S. Muralidhar Madras High Court Supreme Court Collegium The central government, which did not implement the decision for eight months, was allowed to run on its own. One can only conclude that the Center is deliberately refraining from acting on the recommendation to stall the transfers. The Collegium has now decided to propose the name of Justice SV Gangapurvala, a judge of the Bombay High Court, as the next Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. The reason for this appears to be the keenness of the Collegium to have a permanent Chief Justice for the High Court, as the senior-most judge has been serving as Chief Justice for about eight months. In September 2022, it was decided that Justice Muralidhar would be transferred from the Orissa High Court to replace Justice MN Bhandari, who retired as the head of the Madras High Court. Meanwhile, Justice T. Raja, the senior-most judge in Chennai, was acting as the Chief Justice, but in November 2022 it was decided that he would be transferred to the Rajasthan High Court. Justice Raja’s representation that his transfer be reconsidered was rejected by the collegium. However, the Center did not even notify his transfer, resulting in his continuation as Acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court for an unusually long period. He is due to retire on May 24, 2023. As if to underline its disapproval of the state of affairs, the collegium’s resolution reiterated that Justice Raja be transferred “at the earliest”, adding that his continuance as a judge would also not be followed by Justice Raja as Chief Justice. Become an obstacle in the appointment of Gangapurwala.
There have been recent instances when the government has exposed the political views of potential appointees in order to prevent their advancement to the benches. However, in most cases, inaction is the main means to stop the appointment. A question arises as to whether such deliberate inaction on the part of the Center can be allowed to become the norm. The last move will no doubt encourage the Center to exercise its right to veto any appointment or transfer proposed by the collegium. Despite the flaws in the collegium system, the current situation bodes ill for the independence of the judiciary. The system has been established on the basis of judicial primacy, but it now appears that the executive has found a way to circumvent it – simply by refusing to implement the recommendations of the collegium. In fact, the current regime has changed the legal position that if the collegium reiterates its stand on an appointment, the recommendations will be binding on the government.