SC agrees to hear after two weeks pleas over Centre's delay in judges' appointment
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to list a batch of pleas questioning the delay on the part of the central government in appointment of judges after the collegium reiterated their names.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran said it will hear the pleas after two weeks after senior advocate Arvind Datar and advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned them for urgent listing, saying the petitions were listed in 2023 but were suddenly dropped from the cause list.
"There are names of some judges which were reiterated in 2019, then 2020 and 2022, but till now they have not been cleared. This court has a fixed time limit for taking decisions at every stage. A delay of a few weeks is understandable but a delay of four years is not understandable at all," Datar said.
Eventually, what happens is that the candidate whose name has been recommended for judgeship by the Supreme Court Collegium gradually loses interest and seniority, he said.
The counsel also referred to instances where advocates in Delhi and Mumbai, whose names were recommended, eventually withdrew their names.
CJI Gavai said that in the case of Delhi, when a woman advocate's name was not cleared by the Centre, he tried to persuade on the administrative side.
Datar said the matter was last taken up by Justice (retd) Sanjay Kishan Kaul.
Bhushan, referring to the instance of the Delhi advocate's name not being cleared, said she was a topper of a National Law School and claimed that this has been happening repeatedly.
When Bhushan tried to raise the case of governors, where the apex court has fixed a timeline for clearing bills, CJI Gavai asked Bhushan not to mention anything sub-judice and told him to keep his powder dry.
The top court is hearing a presidential reference over its April 8 verdict which fixed a timeline for governors to clear bills passed by assemblies and also for the President to grant assent to them.
On December 5, 2023, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul observed, "Some things are best left unsaid," when some lawyers pointed out the sudden deletion from the cause list of the pleas related to the alleged delay by the Centre in acting on the collegium's recommendations on elevation and transfer of high court judges.
The apex court is seized of two such petitions.
While hearing the matter on November 20, 2023, the court flagged the issue of the Centre "picking and choosing" high court judges recommended for transfer by the collegium, saying it does not send out a good signal.
The appointment of judges through the collegium system, where judges appoint judges of constitutional courts, has often become a hot button issue between the Supreme Court and the Centre, with the mechanism drawing criticism from different quarters.
The top court is hearing petitions, including one filed by the Advocates' Association, Bengaluru, seeking contempt action against the Union Ministry of Law and Justice for allegedly not adhering to the timeline set by the court in a 2021 judgement for clearing the names recommended by the SC Collegium for elevation and transfer of high court judges.
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BJP accuses Karnataka govt of 'failing' to prevent noise pollution caused by 'azaan'
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): Members of the Opposition BJP on Tuesday slammed the Karnataka government for not taking measures to prevent the alleged noise pollution caused by 'azaan', the Islamic call to prayer.
BJP MLC D S Arun raised the issue in the Legislative Council during the question hour, accusing the ruling Congress of "appeasement" by failing to take action against mosques that are violating the Supreme Court's directives.
Karnataka Minister for Forest, Ecology and Environment Eshwar Khandre, responding to the question, said, as per the directives of the Supreme Court in sensitive zones, the noise level should not exceed 50 decibels during the day and 40 decibels at night, and in residential areas, 55 decibels during the day and 45 decibels at night.
In commercial areas, the noise should not exceed 65 decibels during the day, 55 at night, and in industrial areas, 75 during the day and at night 70 decibels, he said.
Pointing out that the Karnataka government had issued an order in 2022, assigning responsibility to a committee headed by a DySPs or ACPs for the effective implementation of the rules, the minister said when a complaint is received about noise pollution, the Pollution Control Board will inspect it and provide information about the decibel level to the police to take further action, including filing of criminal cases.
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"Not only during azaan, but also during bhajans held in temples and marriage events, among others, the violations happen. There is a need to spread awareness. The Supreme Court has ordered against bursting firecrackers, but it is being violated. Efforts will be made to implement the rules effectively," he said.
Several BJP MLAs, including Arun, Bharathi Shetty, among others, were not satisfied with the minister's reply. They took strong exception to it.
Arun noted that in the last three years, only 52 cases have been taken, and said there are clear violations by almost all mosques, but no action has been taken. "The decibels have in fact increased under this government. The government is giving protection to them."
Reacting to this, Khandre, calling it a "sensitive matter", said, "It is not right to politicise the issue. The law of this land is equal for everyone."
Hitting back, Arun asked, "Why is the matter sensitive? What is preventing you (the government) from implementing the Supreme Court directives?"
