The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider listing a petition against the collegium system of appointment of judges to the apex court and high courts, days after Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju said people were not happy with the practice of judges appointing judges. The matter was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud.
The bench, also comprising Justices Hima Kohli and J B Pardiwala, assured the counsel it will consider the request in due course after perusing the petition
Denial of equal opportunity
The plea has said the collegium system of appointment of judges has resulted in denial of equal opportunity to thousands of lawyers who are eligible, meritorious and deserve to be considered.
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Advocate Mathews J Nedumpara, who mentioned the matter, referred to the 2015 verdict of the apex court which had struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act and the Constitution (99th Amendment) Act, 2014, leading to the revival of the collegium system of existing judges appointing judges to constitutional courts.
The NJAC Act, 2014 would have accorded a major role to the executive in appointing judges to the higher judiciary. The apex court had on October 16, 2015 struck down the ambitious NJAC Act, 2014 which had sought to replace the 22-year-old collegium system of judges appointing judges.
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‘Government’s job to appoint judges’
Last month, Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju had said the people of the country are not happy with the collegium system and, according to the spirit of the Constitution, it is the government's job to appoint judges.
On November 13, former Chief Justice of India U U Lalit had, however, said there is nothing wrong with the collegium system. "The collegium system is here to stay and it is an established norm where judges choose judges," he had said while speaking to the PTI, adding the fundamentals of the system can be fine-tuned.
(With inputs from PTI)
