A difference of opinion has occurred in the powerful Supreme Court collegium over the correct procedure to recommend four names, one of them a senior advocate, to the apex court Bench after months of presenting a unified front which saw many firsts in judicial appointments to the constitutional courts.
The schism within the collegium comes at a crucial time when the letter from the Union Law Minister requesting the incumbent Chief Justice of India, Justice U.U. Lalit, to recommend the name of his successor may arrive any day now. The letter from the Law Minister kick-starts the process of appointment of the next Chief Justice, the 50th one.
The process, according to the Memorandum of Procedure of Appointment of Supreme Court Judges, begins with the Union Law Minister seeking the recommendation of the outgoing CJI about the next appointment. The Minister has to seek the CJI's recommendation "at the appropriate time".
