The apex Court collegium meets on next CJI, new postings

Besides jurist of India N V Ramana, the collegium includes Justices U U Lalit, D Y Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abdul Nazeer.

The five-judge Supreme Court collegium, headed by magistrate of India N V Ramana, met Tuesday and discussed kickstarting the method of appointment of the subsequent judge because the CJI is ready to retire on August 26.

It is learnt that the collegium did discuss some names for appointments to the SC but there's also a view among some judges that it'd be more prudent to attend until the subsequent CJI takes over.

It is learnt that the collegium is probably going to fulfill again Wednesday.

As per the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP), the document governing the method of appointment of judges and appointment of the CJI, the Law Minister asks the outgoing jurist of India to recommend the subsequent CJI.

The MoP states that the CJI should be “the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court considered fit hold the office.” Although the MoP says that the CJI’s views must be sought “at the suitable time” and doesn't specify a timeline for the method, it normally takes place a month before the retirement of the incumbent CJI.

Incidentally, on Tuesday, the Supreme Court promotional material Officer said that “no note/letter regarding recommendation of (the) successor (has been) received within the office of the Hon’ble magistrate.”

Justice Lalit, who is that the seniormost judge of the Supreme Court is next in line to be appointed the CJI. he's expected to own a tenure of three months, retiring on November 8, 2022.

Justice Lalit are the second CJI after Justice SM Sikri who was appointed directly from the Bar as a judge of the Supreme Court. Justice Sikri was CJI from January 1971 to April 1973.

Born in 1957, Justice Lalit enrolled as an advocate in 1983 before the Bombay state supreme court. Before being appointed a judge of the SC in 2014, he appeared because the Special prosecuting attorney for the Central Bureau of Investigation within the 2G trial.

The Supreme Court will have 30 judges with CJI Ramana’s retirement against a sanctioned strength of 34.