Justice Bhandari is India’s nominee for ICJ
18 Feb, 2012
In response to an RTI query, the Ministry of External Affairs has informed of the forwarding the name of a judge of the Supreme Court of India for the International Court of Justice (ICJ). India has forwarded the name of the Supreme Court judge Dalveer Bhandari for April election to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). India has not had a representative on board in the ICJ for long and the last Indian representation to ICJ was the then Chief Justice of India Raghunandan Swaroop Pathak during 1989-91.
It was informed that the Government of India does not recommend candidates for nomination to the ICJ. However, Government of India is at liberty to forward names of potential candidates for the consideration of Indian National groups in Permanent Court of Arbitration. The elections to the vacancy were announced in the United Nations on January 19, and the elections would be held on April 27. The reply to the RTI application revealed that the procedure for canvassing support for the Indian candidate to the election is presently going on. Canvassing for support for the elections involves sensitive dealings with the governments of foreign countries. The Ministry refused to reveal the efforts regarding lobbying and the electoral strategy holding that it is essentially a confidential process which if revealed even before the elections are held, may seriously compromise their ability to lobby strongly and effectively for the choice of Indian National Group.