No move to change judges appointment procedure

NEW DELHI: There is no proposal to change the procedure of appointment of judges to High Courts and the Supreme Court on the recommendations made by a collegium of judges headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Union Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj made it clear on Wednesday. Speaking at the Law Day celebrations (India adopted the Constitution on November 26, 1949) at the Supreme Court, he referred to the recent controversy over the collegium recommendations to elevate the Chief Justices of three High Courts to the apex court, and said, “I [the government] will not deviate from the mandate of the Supreme Court judgements which laid down the procedure of judges appointment.” He said: “I have reservations about the setting up of a National Judicial Commission [to make appointments and to deal with errant judges]. If you want to revert to any other system, it is for the judiciary to decide. The independence of the institution of judiciary should be protected.” He said the present system worked considerably well and there was no complaint about the appointments. “If appointments are to be done by the NJC with outsiders as members, there is bound to be delay and deadlock.” On the need for more transparency, Mr. Bhardwaj said: “The recommendations for appointments are made by competent persons in the collegium and there is transparency in the procedure.” On corruption in the judiciary and entrusting cases to the police, he differed with the CJI, who recently permitted the Central Bureau of Investigation to interrogate some judges involved in corruption. “I am against the CBI or the police entering the house of a judge for investigation. Sanction for prosecution of a judge should not be given as this will not be good for the judiciary. We must have a mechanism in the judiciary for peers to deal with the issue. We must insulate the judiciary from all sorts of attacks so that the prestige of the institution is kept at a high level.” Impeachment issue Earlier, talking to reporters, Mr. Bhardwaj denied reports that the government was not proceeding further in the matter of impeachment of Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court. He said, “I am taking it forward. These things can’t be decided overnight.” Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, who inaugurated the celebrations, defended the collegium system of appointments. “We strictly follow the norms and the procedure laid down in the three Supreme Court judgments. We are bound to follow them and we have not deviated from the procedure.” On the question of transparency by giving details of the appointees and their antecedents as was being done in the United States, he said, “In the U.S., it is a political appointment. Here, it is not so.” The CJI explained the steps taken to tackle corruption in the judiciary. Reeling out statistics, he said the rate of disposal of cases was very high, whether it was in the subordinate judiciary, the High Court or the Supreme Court, but correspondingly the institution of cases was also very high, resulting in arrears. Venkatapathy differs Union Minister of State for Law K. Venkatapathy differed with Mr. Bhardwaj and said it was time that the NJC was put in place to ensure transparency in appointments. Attorney-General Milon K. Banerjee, Supreme Court Bar Association president P.H. Parekh and vice-president Adish C. Aggarwala stressed the importance of the observance of Law Day.

"Loved reading this piece by Prakash Yedhula?
Join LAWyersClubIndia's network for daily News Updates, Judgment Summaries, Articles, Forum Threads, Online Law Courses, and MUCH MORE!!"

Join our Telegram group

Join our Whatsapp group