The News Minute | June 25, 2014 | 12.01 pm IST
Senior lawyer Gopal Subramaniam has withdrawn his candidature for elevation as a judge of the Supreme Court, after the central government raised objections on Tuesday.
The move comes on Wednesday after the National Democratic Alliance-led government at the centre raised objections to his elevation over his alleged “connections” with lobbyist Niira Radia, and a “negative” CBI report, according to India Today.
Subramaniam’s name had been recommended by the collegium to appoint Supreme Court judges along with the names of Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Arun Mishra, Orissa High Court Chief Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and senior advocate Rohinton Nariman. All the names except that of Subramaniam’s have been cleared by the central government.
The senior lawyer’s career includes an appointment as amius curiae in the Sohrabudddin fake encounter case. India Today reports: “Subramanium was critical of the Gujarat government headed by Narendra Modi and brought out new facts on the basis of which the Supreme Court had ordered a CBI probe into the case.”
Economic Times reported that the names of the judges were recommended by the collegium in the first week of May. The collegium comprises of the five senior-most judges including Chief Justice of India R M Lodha, and Justices H L Dattu, A K Patnaik, Balbir Singh Chauhan, and Tirath Singh Thakur.
ET reported that although the centre has objected to Subramaniam’s appointment as a Supreme Court judge, the collegium can reiterate its recommendation. If it does so, the centre will have no choice but to accept the collegium’s recommendation.
India Today also reported that the last lawyer to be directly appointed to the Supreme Court was N Santhosh Hegde in 1999.