Supreme Court Collegium likely to meet today to decide on Justice KM Joesph's elevation

The Supreme Court collegium meeting is expected to take place today which may again recommend the name of the Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice KM Joseph for elevation as a judge of the apex court.

Last week, the Centre sent back Justice Joseph’s name for reconsideration while approving senior SC lawyer Indu Malhotra’s name for SC judge post.

In the meeting, the five most senior judges of the apex court, Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, are likely to reiterate their earlier recommendation.

Justice Joseph’s name was recommended along with senior advocate of the top court and now SC Judge, Justice Malhotra, in January.

Indu Malhotra was sworn in as the judge of the Supreme Court on April 27, becoming the first woman lawyer to be directly appointed from the Bar. 

Justice Joseph, who will turn 60 this June, has been the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court since July 2014. He was appointed as a permanent judge of the Kerala High Court on October 14, 2004 and had assumed charge of the Uttarakhand High Court on July 31, 2014.

Justice Joseph had headed the bench that had quashed the Narendra Modi government's decision to impose President's rule in 2016 when the Congress was in power in the hill state.