Which one of the following statements is not correct?
The President of India appoints the judges of the Supreme Court in accordance with the provisions of Article 124 of the Constitution of India.
The President of India appoints the judges of the Supreme Court on the basis of the recommendations of the collegium.
The President of India appoints the Chief Justice of India on the basis of the recommendations of the collegium.
The number of judges in the collegium for recommending appointment of judges in the Supreme Court and High Courts is not the same.
Answer is Wrong!
Answer is Right!
This question was previously asked in
UPSC Combined Section Officer – 2019-20
– Statement B: The President of India appoints the judges of the Supreme Court on the basis of the recommendations of the collegium. This is correct based on the judicial interpretation of Article 124 by the Supreme Court in the “Judges Cases”, establishing the collegium system where the President appoints based on the collegium’s recommendations.
– Statement C: The President of India appoints the Chief Justice of India on the basis of the recommendations of the collegium. While the collegium is involved in the process and the outgoing CJI (head of the collegium) recommends the successor, the established convention for appointing the Chief Justice of India is primarily based on seniority. The senior-most judge of the Supreme Court is usually appointed as the CJI. The collegium process for CJI is largely one of formalizing this seniority principle rather than selecting among multiple candidates based on other criteria, as is done for other judges. Stating it is appointed “on the basis of the recommendations of the collegium” may not fully capture the primary basis, which is seniority.
– Statement D: The number of judges in the collegium for recommending appointment of judges in the Supreme Court and High Courts is not the same. The Supreme Court Collegium for recommending Supreme Court judges consists of the CJI and four senior-most Supreme Court judges (total 5). The Supreme Court Collegium for recommending High Court judges consists of the CJI and two senior-most Supreme Court judges, along with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court and two senior-most judges of that High Court (total 3 SC judges + 3 HC judges involved in the process). Thus, the composition and number of judges involved in the collegium’s recommendation process differ for SC and HC appointments. This statement is correct.
Given that A, B, and D are correct descriptions of the process and composition, statement C, due to the nuance around the seniority principle governing the appointment of the CJI versus the more discretionary selection for other judges by the collegium, is the statement that is least accurate or potentially misleading.