Above: Justice KM Joseph

Union law minister Ravishankar Prasad on Monday (June 11) defended his ministry’s act in sending back the Supreme Court recommendation of elevating Uttarakhand High Court CJ, Justice KM Joseph to the top court by hitting back at the critics.

He said: “The law minister and the law ministry is not a post office where anyone can send anything. We have the right to express our opinion and ask for reconsideration of recommendation. But it is being presented as if we have done a cardinal sin.”

Prasad was reacting to allegations that the government deliberately did not appoint Justice Joseph, because of differences. Prasad, however, did not take the name of Justice Joseph.

Justice Joseph was the judge who dismissed President’s rule forcibly imposed by the Centre and allowed a floor test where the BJP failed to make the cut. This act of the judge has not gone down well with the government and the ministry had sent back the recommendation, okaying advocate Indu Malhotra’s direct elevation, while commenting that why Justice Joseph when there were more senior judges in the country.

—India Legal Bureau