Q. In the context of appointment of Supreme Court judges, consider the following statements:
1. The Chief Justice of India appoints judges of Supreme Court in consultation with four senior most judges of Supreme Court.
2. According to the constitution, the appointment of acting Chief Justice is made by the President.
3. Till now, not a single person who has been a distinguished Jurist in the opinion of the President has been appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court.
How many statements given above are correct?
Exp) Option b is the correct answer.
Statement 1 is incorrect. The judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the president and not by the Chief Justice of India. The chief justice of India and such other judges of SC is consulted by the President before appointment of Judges to SC. In Third Judges case (1998), the Court opined that the consultation process to be adopted by the Chief justice of India requires consultation of plurality judges. The sole opinion of the chief justice of India does not constitute the consultation process. He should consult a collegium of four senior most judges of the Supreme Court and even if two judges give an adverse opinion, he should not send the recommendation to the government. The court held that the recommendation made by the chief justice of India without complying with the norms and requirements of the consultation process are not binding on the government.
Statement 2 is correct. Appointment of acting Chief Justice is made by the President under Article 126 of the Constitution. Vacancy in the office of the Chief Justice must be filled whatever the period of vacancy. In such an eventuality, the senior most available Judge of the Supreme Court will be appointed to perform the duties of the office of the Chief Justice of India.
Statement 3 is correct. For a person to become a judge of Supreme Court he must be a citizen of India, and must have 5 years of experience as a judge in the High Court; It is not necessary here that this five year of experience must be in a ‘single’ High Court. It can be possible that a person has 2 years’ experience in some High Court and 3 years of experience in some other High Court; or must have 10 years of experience as an advocate in High Court; or is in the opinion of the president, a distinguished Jurist.
However, so far, not a single person has been appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court through the third condition. Most of the judges that have been appointed to the Supreme Court are on the basis of their “5 years’ experience as judges in the High Court”. And only eight persons have been able to be appointed as Supreme Court judge on the basis of the
