New Delhi, April 26: In its first,  Senior Advocate Indu Malhotra has been appointed as the first woman judge of the Supreme Court of India. Malhotra has been appointed to the top post directly from the bar. The Law Ministry on Wednesday informed that the government is learnt to have cleared the Malhotra's appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court. 

The 62-year old advocate was also the second female advocate from the Bar who was designated as a "senior" lawyer of the top court in 2007. The Senior Supreme Court advocate's name was among the two names recommended by the Collegium -- the other being the Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court, KM Joseph. With this development, the government has decided to put on hold the elevation of Justice K M Joseph, who heads the Uttarakhand High Court.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court refused to stay the appointment of Indu Malhotra as a Supreme Court Judge, when senior advocate Indira Jaising pleaded for a stay, on the ground that Centre has stalled the appointment of Uttarakhand Chief Justice KM Joseph. The Apex Court refused to give an urgent hearing to a mentioning by a group of Supreme Court Bar Association lawyers, with 100 signatures, seeking a stay on Justice KM Joseph not being elevated to the apex Court.

On January 22, the apex court collegium's file recommending the elevation of Justice Joseph and Malhotra reached the Law Ministry. After processing the file in the first week of February, the recommendations were kept in abeyance as the government wanted to elevate only Malhotra, a report by PTI said.

It must be noted that now, the government has gone ahead with the appointment of Malhotra and kept on hold the elevation of Justice Joseph. Reports inform that the government feels that while recommending the name of Justice Joseph, the collegium has disregarded seniority and regional representation.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 26, 2018 02:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).