According to the Economic Times, citing an unnamed “senior law ministry official”, senior counsel and former solicitor general Gopal Subramanium’s nomination to the Supreme Court bench, which was announced by the collegium and then-new Chief Justice of India (CJI) RM Lodha last month, is currently on ice, with the new BJP government mulling sitting on the collegium’s recommendation in Subramanium’s case to effectively nix his nomination.

The ET reported the official saying that the “suitability” of Subramanium was being “discussed at the highest levels” and that the government had not responded to the collegium recommendation with its consent in his case, though no authoritative reasons for the reluctance were reported.

The government could effectively delay a Supreme Court judge’s appointment indefinitely by never responding to the collegium’s recommendation, explained senior counsel KTS Tulsi, while another law ministry official told the ET that the new government might fast track the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) Bill in the meantime, which would in any case end the current collegium system.