BCI protests collegium's decision to recommend Justice Sanjeev Khanna's elevation

The Bar Council of India (BCI) Wednesday protested the Supreme Court collegium's recommendation to elevate Justice Sanjeev Khanna of the Delhi High Court to the apex court by superseding several other judges and termed the decision as "whimsical and arbitrary".

The BCI, which is an apex body of lawyers, said the decision of the five-member collegium headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi was viewed by the Bar and the common man as "unjust and improper".

Before the BCI made a statement protesting the decision of the collegium, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul of the Supreme Court also wrote a note to the CJI and other members of the collegium -- Justices A K Sikri, S A Bobde, N V Ramana and Arun Mishra -- for ignoring the seniority of Chief Justices of the High Courts of Rajasthan and Delhi, Pradeep Nandrajog and Rajendra Menon, respectively.

Sources said Justice Kaul was of the view that wrong signal would go out if the two Chief Justices, who are up in the seniority list than ...