There is no proposal at present to reintroduce a bill on National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
Reintroducing NJAC
Responding to a question by Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and CPI-M's John Britas on whether the government proposes to reintroduce NJAC with "suitable modifications", Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said in a written reply that "at present there is no such proposal".
The NJAC Act, which sought to overturn the collegium system of appointing Supreme Court and high court judges, was struck down by the top court in 2015. The NJAC Bill and an accompanying Constitution amendment were passed by Parliament with near unanimity.
Advertisement
The Court had observed in the 2015 Fourth Judges Case that the law offered the executive an equal power in judicial appointments to constitutional courts which violates the doctrine of “separation of power” enshrined as part of the Basic Structure of the constitution.
Executive's attacks targeting the Collegium system
Rijiju had been attacking the collegium system, describing it as being "alien" to the Constitution. Likeiwse, Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar, in his maiden speech in the upper house on Wednesday, criticised the judiciary for scrapping the NJAC law, terming it as an instance of "severe compromise of parliamentary sovereignty", and said the three organs should respect the "Laxman Rekha".
Advertisement
Dhankhar had expressed similar views on two earlier occasions in the recent past. Recently, he had described it a "serious" matter that there was "no whisper" in Parliament after the NJAC law was struck down by the apex court.
Supreme Court's remarks
This comes at a time when the tussle between the judiciary and the executive over the appointment of judges based on the Collegium system are at a high. On Thursday, the Supreme Court lambasted the Centre over its failure to follow the "law of the land" by causing an inadvertent delay in clearing the names recommended by the Collegium.
The apex Court is hearing a petition challenging the Collegium system and adjourned the matter for further hearings until next week.
(With inputs from PTI)
