The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The government has asked the Supreme Court Collegium to reconsider 10 proposals reiterated by it, law minister Kiren Rijiju told Rajya Sabha on Thursday, February 9.
“Ten proposals reiterated by SCC (Supreme Court Collegium) were recently referred back to the SCC for reconsideration,” he said.
According to PTI, out of these 10 proposals, the Collegium has reiterated its earlier recommendation for appointment in three cases. On the remaining seven reiterated proposals, the Collegium has sought additional inputs from the high court collegium, he said in a written reply to a question.
The news agency reported him as saying that there have been instances in the past when the Supreme Court Collegium had agreed to the views expressed by the Union government and recalled its reiterated recommendations.
The minister’s statement comes amid an ongoing tussle between the Supreme Court and the Union government over the procedure to appoint judges.
The two-tiered collegiums are a 25-year-old system through which judges of the Supreme Court appoint judges to the apex court and high courts. At present, the collegium comprises CJI Chandrachud, and Justices S.K. Kaul, K.M. Joseph, M.R. Shah, Ajay Rastogi and Sanjiv Khanna.
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Amid the tussle between the executive and the judiciary, the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act has been in the centre of discussions. It was passed by the parliament in August 2014 and quashed by the Supreme Court in 2015. The Act had envisioned two-government representatives in the body that will appoint judges.
According to existing memorandum of procedure on appointment of high court judges, the proposal is initiated by the Chief Justice of the high court in consultation with two senior-most judges of that high court.
The Union law minister then considers the recommendations keeping in mind Intelligence Bureau reports on the candidates.
The complete material is then forwarded to the CJI for his advice. Accordingly, the government sends all proposals received from the various high court collegiums to the Supreme Court Collegium for advice.
The Collegium then recommends names to the government for appointment as high court judges.