In a bizarre incident on Thursday, the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud informed the Attorney General for India about a contempt petition filed by the State of Jharkhand against the Central government for delaying the appointment of the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court. In response, the Attorney General said that he was completely unaware of such a petition.

In his statement, CJI said, “There is also a contempt petition filed by the State of Jharkhand...just pointed out to me last night when I was leaving for home...that the State of Jharkhand. has filed a contempt against the Union of India...this was brought to my attention yesterday..”

However, the Attorney General responded, “We are not aware of that.”

This conversation began when the AG asked for the adjournment of a petition concerning the appointment of judges, which was scheduled for tomorrow. Attorney General R Venkataramani said that the Centre will probably make a decision soon on the resolutions of the Collegium that are still pending regarding the appointment of Chief Justices of High Courts.

“The matter regarding the judge’s appointment which is listed tomorrow, I request this matter may be pushed by a week or so, I will be in a position to come back with something. Let it not be taken up tomorrow,” the Attorney General told CJI DY Chandrachud while referring to a PIL that asks the Union Government to give it instructions on how to promptly implement the recommendations made by the Collegium.

The list for tomorrow, according to CJI, has already been released. Assuming the petitioner is present tomorrow, and the AG could bring up the issue, CJI suggested keeping the matter on the board. The Supreme Court collegium had finalised names on 11 July for appointment of Chief Justices in eight High Courts. However, the resolutions still await the consideration of the Union Government.

Last week, during the course of the hearing on the petition seeking appointments of judges, AG told the Court that he needed to share with it some "sensitive information" on the collegium recommendations. For this purpose, the matter was adjourned till 20 September.

In the meantime, the Collegium changed three recommendations made in accordance with the resolution from July 11 on September 17.

Image source: Odisha Bytes