New Delhi, Dec. 23: The Supreme Court today refused to entertain a petition seeking the promotion of the fourth senior-most judge, Justice J. Chelameshwar, as the next Chief Justice of India instead of Justice J.S. Khehar.

President Pranab Mukherjee had on December 19 put his seal on Justice Khehar's elevation to Chief Justice of India (CJI) on January 4.

Moved by a lawyers' forum, the public interest plea claimed that Justice Khehar had "usurped" the post of Chief Justice through a judgment by a five-judge Constitution bench that he headed.

The October 2015 verdict had quashed a law that gave the government a say in the appointment of Supreme Court and high court judges, thus retaining the judges-only collegium's grip on such decisions. Justice Chelameshwar had given the sole dissenting view.

"Since the notification appointing Justice Khehar as the next CJI has already <>been issued, in our view the petition has become virtually infructuous," the bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and L. Nageswara Rao observed. "There is nothing left in this petition as the President of India has issued the necessary notification appointing Justice Khehar as the new CJI."

The National Lawyers' Campaign for Judicial Transparency and Reforms had moved the petition on December 14, five days before Rashtrapati Bhavan issued the notice on Justice Khehar's elevation.

When the matter came up for hearing today, lawyers representing the petitioner insisted that the plea be heard on merit. But the bench declined to entertain it.

The petition said it had the highest respect for Justice Khehar's personal integrity, rectitude and judicial acumen.

However, it argued, Justice Khehar had through his role in quashing the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act "usurped to himself (by virtue of being a collegium member) the power of appointment of judges".

"His Lordship by quashing the NJAC (Act) has reserved the right to appoint himself as the CJI, as it is only by upholding the collegium can he appoint himself as the next CJI," the petitioner said.

"His Lordship usurped to himself the power to appoint not merely chief justices and judges of the high courts but even judges of the Supreme Court, his peers. Hon'ble Shri Justice Chelameshwar stood for transparency and upheld the aforesaid act and has almost a tenure of two years as the CJI (if he were to be appointed now)."

Since August, Justice Chelameshwar has been boycotting all the meetings of the collegium, demanding that all its discussions be recorded for the sake of transparency. Justice Khehar is set to meet him one-to-one to resolve the stalemate.