SC Collegium’s reasons for rejecting High Court judgeship candidates cannot be revealed: Delhi HC

The Supreme Court Collegium’s reasons for rejecting names recommended by the High Court Collegium for judgeship cannot be made public as it will harm the interests of the candidates, the Delhi High Court ruled on Tuesday.

The judgement was passed by a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela while dismissing a plea moved by a man named Rakesh Kumar Gupta against an order of the High Court on May 27 that rejected his petition.

Gupta’s plea had sought for directions to the Supreme Court to publish the reasons for rejecting the High Court collegium’s recommendations.

He said in his petition that he moved court because his cases had been pending before the judiciary due to judges not being appointed.

The plea also said that in 2023, the Supreme Court Collegium rejected 35.29% of the recommendations made for elevating judges to High Courts. In comparison, the figure in 2021 was only 4.38%, according to the petition.

However, the division bench on Tuesday said that the Supreme Court Collegium deliberates and decides the elevation of judges based on the candidates’ private information.

“Such information, if made public, will have the effect of stifling the appointment process,” the court held.

The bench held that if Gupta believes that his matters have...

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