The Supreme Court collegium has overruled the central government’s objections.

The collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde, approved Srinagar-based lawyer Javed Iqbal Wani’s appointment at a meeting on 22 January. In keeping with the rules for judicial appointments, the name will now be forwarded to the central government for finalisation.

The Modi government had red-flagged Wani’s elevation after the Intelligence Bureau, in its report on the lawyer, pointed out that his father-in-law was close to top Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and also provided legal assistance to separatists.

Objecting to his elevation, the central government had suggested that it could be against national interest, sources in the Supreme Court had told.

However, the sources had added, the intelligence report didn’t have any specific inputs to establish if Wani shared his father-in-law’s ideology.