Form of words:
New Delhi: Four years after the Delhi High Court recommended the name of advocate Saurabh Kripal for appointment as a judge, the Supreme Court Collegium has finally approved the proposal.
The decision was taken on November 11 by a high-powered appointments panel headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices UU Lalit and AM Khanwilkar, according to the collegium’s resolution uploaded on the official website of the Supreme Court.
Earlier, the collegium had deferred its decision on Kripal’s recommendation four times.
The proposal has now been forwarded to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, which will have to notify the appointment as per the procedure. If approved, Kripal will be the first gay judge to be appointed to any high court in India.
Apart from this, the collegium has also reiterated the names of four for Delhi High Court, three for Calcutta, three for Kerala and one for Chhattisgarh.
a long delay
Kirpal, who has come out as gay, was recommended for elevation in 2017 by the Delhi HC Collegium headed by Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal.
In March this year, the SC collegium, led by the then CJI SA Bobde, had written a letter to the Union Law Ministry, giving four weeks’ time to provide additional information on Kripal.
The letter was after a discussion between the members of the collegium on March 2. The present CJI and Justice RF Nariman (now retired) were the other members of the collegium at that time.
The name of Kripal was also discussed along with 18 long pending proposals with the collegium. Some of them, including Kirpal, were pending due to more information sought by the collegium from the government.
While the collegium had cleared other names, it held Kripal on hold till he got input from the government.
This was the fourth time his name was deferred since he was unanimously recommended by the Delhi HC Collegium.
In his letter, CJI Bobde reminded the Law Ministry that this collegium was supposed to provide the inputs that the previous collegium had sought.
CJI Bobde wanted more clarity on the government’s objection to Kripal’s name, which was flagged in Intelligence Bureau (IB) inputs that were sent to the collegium when his file was forwarded by the government.
Read also: Recommended twice for promotion, but this lawyer is yet to be appointed as judge of Calcutta HC
government reservation
The government has not officially spoken out against Kripal’s sexual orientation, but did object to his partner being a foreigner. This was highlighted in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) report, which the government sent to the SC Collegium in October 2017 after receiving a recommendation on Kripal from the Delhi High Court.
The IB had scanned Kripal’s Facebook account and attached a picture of him with his “foreign” accomplice. However, none of the images were offensive or objectionable, and there were no direct objections to their elevation. However, the IB report had said that the foreign partner of the lawyer could pose a security risk.
This IB report was considered by a collegium on 1 April 2019, headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justices Bobde and Ramana.
It then deferred its decision for the third time, preferring to obtain additional information from the government in view of IB inputs on Kripal.
In response to CJI Bobde’s letter dated March 2, the government once again objected to his partner being a foreigner. It was reported that he was employed at the Swiss Embassy and had also worked with a Switzerland-based non-profit organization prior to this job.
in one Interview Last September, Kripal told ThePrint that he believed this was probably the reason why the three-member Supreme Court collegium had deferred its decision on his promotion. This was the first time the advocate had made his point on the issue.
(Edited by Arun Prashant)
Read also: Justice Akil Qureshi ignored as SC judge, likely to head Rajasthan HC as Chief Justice
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