For First Time in 5 Years, CJI May Retire Without a Successor: Report

13-02-2021

With Chief Justice of India, Justice S A Bobde, due to retire in just over a month, the collegium is yet to make its first recommendation of a judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court since he took office in November 2019. According to a report , this will be the first time since 2015 when the CJI will have no successor. Back then, during the retirement of CJI H L Dattu there was an unprecedented stand-off between the judiciary and the government over the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). The report further states that one reason is the lack of consensus in the collegium � comprising CJI Bobde and Justices NV Ramana, Rohinton Nariman, U U Lalit and AM Khanwilkar � on recommending Justice Akil Kureshi, Chief Justice of Tripura High Court, to the apex court. The apex court is short of four judges while two retirements � of CJI Bobde and Justice Indu Malhotra � are due in the next two months. Additionally, Justices Ashok Bhushan, Rohinton Nariman and Navin Sinha will retire this year. Since August, there had been no Collegium meeting. No names have been discussed informally among Judges.