India, June 19 -- Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai's advice to the Union government to refrain from selectively acting on collegium recommendations is timely. HT reported on Thursday that CJI Gavai issued this message after presiding over his first collegium meeting on May 26. According to people familiar with the matter, CJI Gavai was emphatic that segregating names from a batch of recommendations not only disturbs the seniority of judges but also sends an improper message about the collegium's authority and functioning.

India has a nuanced process to pick judges for constitutional courts - where the senior-most judges pick judicial candidates and their names are confirmed by the executive, pending background checks. Selecti...