NEW DELHI: Amid government’s plan to discontinue with the practice of judges appointing judges, Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir today strongly defended the collegium system saying appointments to the higher judiciary are made after “intense deliberations”.
Responding to a question on need to replace the present collegium system, Justice Kabir said, “I don’t know what this criticism is about, the way judges are being appointed. Great deal of deliberation goes into the choice of the name of the judge…”
The CJI along with Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar was addressing a joint press conference after the conclusion of a conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts here.
Justice Kabir said before a name of a judge is forwarded to the Supreme Court Collegium for elevation, the High Court Collegium goes through the details and “considers various issues…it is vetted by various intelligence agencies.”
He said people who know the particular judge are also asked before forwarding the file and the concerned state government also has a say in the matter.
He said the name is vetted by the Law Ministry and a collegium of five Supreme Court judges makes the final recommendation.
He also said people who are not fully aware of the collegium system should refrain from commenting on it.
“Yes, I feel that…this is my way of thinking, that in order to maintain the independence of judiciary – the system which is there – without understanding the nature of the system, one should not make comment about it, because intensive information is taken…before anything is decided,” Justice Kabir said. . Justice Kabir’s comments come against the backdrop of government’s plans to replace the 20-year-old system so that the Executive can have more say in judicial appointments.
The Law Ministry has finalized a bill to set up the National Judicial Appointments Commission.
The proposed Commission is expected to be chaired by the Chief Justice of India and would have the Law Minister and Leader of the Opposition of either House of Parliament as its members, besides two judges of the Supreme Court.
A representative of the President will also be on board.
India may be among few countries where judges appoint themselves. This practice started after 1993, replacing the system of government picking judges for higher judiciary comprising the Supreme Court and 24 High Courts.
The move to set aside the 1993 Supreme Court judgment, which led to the collegium system, will require a Constitutional amendment.
The last effort to replace the collegium system in 2003 did not succeed. The then NDA government had introduced a Constitution Amendment Bill but the Lok Sabha was dissolved when the bill was before a Standing Committee.
Referring to the decisions arrived at the conference, Ashwani Kumar said the Centre will earmark additional funds for infrastructure under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme on 75:25 basis.
“Assistance will be given for both the additional courts as well as fast track courts,” the minister said.
Both the Law Minister and the CJI agreed that the issue of setting up an All India Judicial Service will take time as the issue still needs to be fine tuned with states having divergent views on certain aspects. -PTI
Thank You For Your Vote!
Sorry You have Already Voted!
