Supreme Court Disclosure Triggers Intelligence Concerns: Sources

The disclosure of the Supreme Court judges' back-and-forth with the central government over the appointment of judges, including the objections raised by intelligence agencies, has led to disquiet in the security establishment, sources had told NDTV.

It's been a practice not to make the objections public, and keep the confidentiality of intelligence agencies who scrutinise prospective candidates for the posts of the higher judiciary -- both in the High Court and Supreme Court. The disclosure has caused great concern within the government, which feels that this should not have been disclosed and used publicly.

A final call will be taken to sensitise the Chief justice of India about this practice, which has been followed since Independence, sources said.

Sources in the government say the reiteration of the judges will be duly processed, and a final call will be taken in due course later next week.

The Supreme Court had deliberated for four days before taking the unprecedented step of making public its communication with the Centre on judges' elevation, sources have told NDTV. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had conferred not only with brother judges of the Collegium that decides on judges' appointments, but also the judge who is expected to succeed him, sources said.

The recommendation to elevate the three candidates to the Delhi, Bombay, and Madras High Courts was turned down by the Centre in November. The top court revealed that the Centre's objections in the case of Saurabh Kirpal were about his sexual orientation and the foreign nationality of his partner.

The other two candidates -- Somasekhar Sundaresan and R John Sathyan -- were rejected because of their social media posts. One of them, Mr Sathyan, shared an article critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among other things. The other, sources said, expressed contrary opinions about the Citizenship Amendment Act.

The debate on executive versus judiciary has spiked over the issue of judicial appointments, where the government is pushing for a bigger role.