Supreme Court slams delay in Sikh judges' Appointment

On 20 Nov, the Indian Supreme Court came down heavily on the Center over the delay in clearing the names of two Sikh lawyers for appointment as judges at the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The judges are Harmeet Singh Grewal and Deepinder Singh Nalwa. The Supreme Court also criticized the government's ‘pick and choose’ approach while accepting names from the Collegium's proposals for the appointment of judges in the high courts. Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia said, 'Two of the candidates not cleared are both Sikhs. Why should this arise? Don't let past issues link up with present pending ones.’ They did not specify what past issues. The Supreme Court said such an approach disturbed the seniority among those recommended for judgeships and it did not send a good signal. Justice Kaul said, ‘Six transfers are pending – one each from Allahabad and Delhi and four from Gujarat. What signal do you send when, out of the transfers recommended, four judges from Gujarat have not been transferred at all?’ He added, the Collegium had recommended fourteen appointments of judges yet only one judge was appointed in the Gauhati High Court. ‘When selective appointments take place, people lose their seniority. Why would people give consent to become judges?’ There is an acute shortage of Sikh representation in the higher echelons of Indian judiciary, intelligence, and bureaucracy. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal urged PM Modi to intervene and direct notification of the appointment of two eminent Sikh lawyers as judges.