Supreme Court dismisses plea seeking review of its verdict striking down NJAC Act

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Madan B Lokur, Kurian Joseph, A M Khanwilkar and Ashok Bhushan dismissed the review plea on November 27 on the grounds of delay and merit.

The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition seeking review of its October 2015 judgment striking down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act and Constitution 99th amendment Act, which sought to bring about a change in the collegium system of appointing judges and give the political executive a say in the matter.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Madan B Lokur, Kurian Joseph, A M Khanwilkar and Ashok Bhushan dismissed the review plea on November 27 on the grounds of delay and merit.

The National Lawyers’ Campaign for Judicial Transparency and Reforms, a lawyers’ outfit, had filed the petition.

Reviews are usually considered by the judges in chamber. This one was also taken up in chamber, with the judges rejecting the prayer to hear it in open court.

The order stated, “There is a delay of 470 days in filing the present review petition, for which no satisfactory explanation has been offered. The review petition is liable to be dismissed on the ground of delay alone. Even otherwise, we have carefully gone through the review petition and the connected papers. We do not find any merit in the same. The review petition is dismissed on the ground of delay as well as on merit.”

On October 16, 2016, the apex court had, in a 4-1 decision, held the Act and 99th Constitutional Amendment unconstitutional.

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