The Supreme Court Collegium has intensified its scrutiny of candidates being considered for High Court judgeship.
The change in approach comes in the wake of the ongoing controversy around Justice Yashwant Varma and allegations of unaccounted cash found at his residence.
The Collegium comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai and Justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath has been holding meetings and interviews with candidates since Tuesday, July 1 to fill up vacancies in various High Courts including those of Madhya Pradesh, Patna and Allahabad.
It is understood the meetings started on Tuesday morning and continued through Wednesday. One day was reserved for candidates from the district judiciary, while the other saw candidates from the Bar being interview. Bar & Bench has learnt that the three Collegium judges had long interactions with the candidates, each lasting for about half an hour.
According to sources, the three judges are interviewing the candidates thoroughly on their resumes and areas of work.
The long virtual/physical interactions are with a view to assessing the capability and calibre of candidates proposed to be appointed as judges of High Courts. These are happening during the Court's summer vacation, when the judges are engaging in administrative work, including tasks related to judicial appointments.
While the interaction/interview process is not new, the current Collegium has made the interactions more grueling to assess the candidates better. Earlier, the Collegium, while appointing judges to the High Court, used to rely on inputs by the relevant State government, Supreme Court judges who hail from the concerned High Court and files/inputs by the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
However, with the judiciary coming under the scanner following various controversies involving High Court judges, the Collegium headed by former CJI Sanjiv Khanna had started insisting on face-to-face meetings, HT had reported. The current Collegium is continuing with the same, while also having longer interactions with potential judges.
As on July 1, there are 371 vacancies in the 25 High Courts across the country.
The Collegium has also often been at loggerheads with the Central government over the delay in clearing its recommendations. This has often led to candidates withdrawing their consent for being appointed as judges.
Recently, Supreme Court judge Justice Dipankar Datta had remarked that the external forces preventing the Collegium's recommendations from being acted upon, should be dealt with sternly.