The Supreme Court collegium has recalled a proposal to elevate advocate Amit Negi to the position of a judge of the Allahabad High Court after the Centre sent it back for the second time, Live Law reported on Friday.
The High Court collegium first recommended Negi for elevation in April 2016. The top court collegium cleared the proposal the same month and then again in November 2016.
But the recommendation to elevate him was held back in July 2017 after the collegium got to know about a first information report filed against the lawyer. Later, the chief justice of India was informed that the High Court had dismissed the FIR and the Uttar Pradesh government did not appeal against the move, Bar and Bench reported.
Subsequently, then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra proposed Negi’s name for elevation in August. The Centre, however, sent back the proposal to the collegium for reconsideration. The collegium proposed his name again in December.
“We have carefully scrutinised the material placed on record including the reasons recorded in the file seeking reconsideration of the proposal for elevation of Amit Negi,” the Supreme Court collegium had then said. “Grounds on which reconsideration of the above proposal has been sought have already been considered by collegium while recommending the name of Amit Negi on August 30, 2016.”
The collegium observed that it did not find any new material in the file referred back by the ministry of law, and said it was “of the considered opinion that Shri Amit Negi, advocate, deserves to be elevated to the High Court Bench.”
The collegium – which comprises Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices AK Sikri, SA Bobde, NV Ramana and Arun Mishra – recalled the recommendation and said it would not be processed any further after the ministry of law asked the chief justice of India to once again reconsider its decision “in view of the material on record, including the observations made by the Department of Justice in the file, relating to fresh inputs received”.
Meanwhile, the collegium has also not approved the appointment of three advocates
proposed for elevation to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Bar and Bench reported. The appointments of Wasim Sadiq Nargal and Nazir Ahmad Beig were initally approved by the collegium on April 6. However, the Centre asked the chief justice of India to reconsider the decision in light of “observations made in the file”.
The collegium asked Nargal’s appointment to be deferred for the moment and instructed the ministry of law to provide it with detailed information on the basis of which the proposal was referred back to it. However, the collegium refused to take back its earlier recommendation to elevate Beig “having regard to all relevant factors and material placed in the file”.
The top court body sent back the name of lawyer Showkat Ahmad Makroo to the chief justice of Jammu and Kashmir, citing similarly phrased reasoning, Bar and Bench reported.
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