Intelligence Input "Generally" Not Taken Before Judges Appointment: Centre

Kiren Rijiju was responding to a question on the Supreme Court Collegium making public portions of a report filed by R&AW on an advocate recommended for elevation as a judge of the Delhi High Court.

The government on Friday said in Lok Sabha that the Supreme Court has observed in a recent order that political background by itself has "not been an absolute bar" to appoint an otherwise suitable person as a judge.

It also said "generally", it is not a practice to seek Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) reports on proposals for the appointment of judges in high courts and the Supreme Court except in "extraordinary circumstances, involving issues related to national security".

In a written reply, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said according to the Memorandum of Procedure for appointment of judges of high courts, the proposals recommended by High Court Collegiums are to be considered in the light of "such other reports/inputs as may be available" to the government for assessing the suitability in respect of the names under consideration.

"Accordingly, IB (Intelligence Bureau) inputs are obtained and provided to the Supreme Court Collegium for making an assessment on the recommendees," he said.