PIL over judicial appointments may have had an in chambers hearing today

In an unexpected move today, the Supreme Court asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to make in chamber, his submissions over the petitions concerning the appointment of judges..The decision was taken by a Bench presided by Chief Justice TS Thakur and comprising of Justice C Nagappan and Justice AM Khanwilkar..This move has come after the court had earlier made some strong remarks against the Central government for allegedly “holding up” appointments of judges..Two petitions are being heard by the court in this regard – one filed by advocate and BJP Spokesperson Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay and the other by a retired army officer, Anil Kabotra. The petitioners have prayed for directions to fill up vacancies in courts across the country, and to augment the strength of judges as well as the judicial infrastructure..When the matter had first come up for hearing, Justice Thakur had grilled Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi on the inaction of the Executive in clearing the files sent by the Collegium..“We have a chart here detailing the list of Collegium recommendations for appointments and transfers. We can give it to you. There are 75 names of HC judges recommended by the Collegium. These include names for appointments and transfers of HC judges, including Chief Justices. There is nothing on them from your side so far.” .Interestingly, the CJI had also taken the names of two judges – Justice Valmiki Mehta and Justice MR Shah, saying that the Court will consider withdrawing judicial work from the two judges if their transfers are not given effect to..“Recommendations for transfer of Justice M R Shah from Gujarat High Court and Justice Valmiki Mehta from Delhi High Court were sent in February and March. These have not been given effect to. .If this is the approach of the Union government, then we would have no option but to withdraw judicial work from these transferred Judges”.When the case came up for hearing the second time, the Centre had told the Supreme Court that there was no logjam over judicial appointments in the country. Rohatgi had explained that the delay was not always a deficiency on the part of the executive, and that sometimes the default was on the part of the concerned High Court collegium..Rohatgi had also said that pending appointments in Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Madras High Courts have been cleared, while also submitting a sealed cover containing details of the status of judicial appointments..When the matter came up for hearing today, the Attorney General was not present. The court then told his junior to ask Rohatgi to come to the chambers. Since the court has not yet issued notice in the matter, it remains to be seen whether the petitions would be disposed of in chambers itself.