Lineage at play? 6 of present SC picks had judge fathers

Apex Court Has Not Ensured Community Regional Balance

- Dhananjay.Mahapatra timesgroup.com

New Delhi:The Supreme Court collegium headed by the CJI is mandated, by two Constitution bench judgments in the 1990s, to choose judges on merit, with an eye on seniority, and ensure representational balance based on region and community.

Regional balance has seldom been achieved with many high courts going unrepresented in the SC for long years. Meritorious and senior judges from these unrepresented HCs, who have spent considerable time heading the judiciaries of various states, continue to wait in the hope that they would receive the allimportant nod from the collegium. Community-based balance is never achieved in the SC, which may be without a judge from the Muslim community if the collegium does not recommend a name from that community who would be appointed as SC judge prior to the retirement of Justice S Abdul Nazeer on January 4.