Supreme Court - Daily Orders
R.P. Luthra vs Union Of India Ministry Of Law And ... on 27 October, 2017
Bench: Adarsh Kumar Goel, Uday Umesh Lalit
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SLP @ Diary NO.22906 of 2017
ITEM NO.20 COURT NO.11 SECTION XIV
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s).........of 2017
Diary No(s). 22906/2017
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 01-05-2017
in RP No. 163/2017 01-03-2017 in LPA No. 340/2016 passed by the
High Court Of Delhi At New Delhi)
R.P. LUTHRA Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & ANR. Respondent(s)
(IA No.83381/2017-CONDONATION OF DELAY IN FILING SLP and
IA No.83378/2017-PERMISSION TO APPEAR AND ARGUE IN PERSON)
Date : 27-10-2017 These matters were called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ADARSH KUMAR GOEL
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE UDAY UMESH LALIT
For Petitioner(s) Petitioner-in-person
For Respondent(s)
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
Delay in filing the Special leave petition is condoned. (1) We agree with the view of the High Court that there is no merit in challenge to the appointment of judges of this Court and the High Courts on the ground that the MOP was not finalized in terms of the decision of this Court in Supreme Court Advocate-on Record Association & Anr. v. Union of India, Signature Not Verified (2016) 5 SCC 1, para 1255.
Digitally signed byMAHABIR SINGH Date: 2017.10.27
Accordingly, the claim of the 13:02:13 IST Reason:
petitioner on that count will stand rejected. 2
SLP @ Diary NO.22906 of 2017 (2) However, we need to consider the prayer that there should be no further delay in finalization of MOP in larger public interest. Even though no time limit was fixed by this Court for finalization of the MOP, the issue cannot linger on for indefinite period. The order of this Court is dated 16th December, 2015 and thus more than one year and ten months have already gone by.
(3) In the meanwhile, observations have been made in the judgment of this Court dated 4th July, 2017 in In Re.: Hon'ble Shri Justice C.S. Karnan, (2017) 7 SCC 1, paras 77, 78 as to the need to revisit the process of appointments and to set up mechanism for corrective measures other than impeachment against conduct of an erring judge.
(4) We also find substance in the submission that the MOP must provide for a mechanism so that appointments of regular Chief Justices of High Courts are not unduly delayed. No doubt, the process is to be initiated by the Collegium and proposal is expected to be so initiated before accrual of the vacancies so as to ensure that appointments take place by the time vacancies arise and that the arrangement of acting Chief Justices does not exceed one month, as stipulated in para 5 of the Memorandum of Procedure for Appointment (MOP) currently in force, in pursuance of judgment of this Court in Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association and Ors. v. Union of India, (1993) 4 SCC 441, para 478.
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SLP @ Diary NO.22906 of 2017 To consider the above submissions in paras 2 and 4, issue notice to the learned Attorney General.
We also request Mr. K.V. Vishwanathan, Senior Advocate, to assist the Court as amicus.
List again on 14th November, 2017.
(MAHABIR SINGH) (PARVEEN KUMARI PASRICHA) COURT MASTER COURT MASTER