The Supreme Court today slammed the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “cherry-picking” from its recommendations for the tribunals.
The apex court has warned the government of a contempt case over the appointments made to many tribunals across India. The Centre has been given a two-week deadline for wrapping up the process as the court underlined: “Return with the appointment letters”.
“I have seen the NCLT appointments… they made more recommendations. But in appointments, cherry-picking was done. What kind of selection is this? And the same thing was done with ITAT members also,” Chief Justice NV Ramana said during the hearing.
“We are not satisfied with how the decisions are being taken. I am also part of the NCLT Selection Committee. We interviewed 544 people… out of which we gave 11 judicial members and 10 technical members. From these recommendations, the government appointed only some of them. The rest of the names went to wait list,” said Chief Justice Ramana.
During the hearing, the CJI has asked the Attorney-General to file a comprehensive affidavit on the appointments, including why people recommended by Supreme Court judges were not appointed.