Will have to constitute bench’: SC to petitioner challenging Collegium system

The counsel referred to comments by retired Supreme Court judge S K Kaul on the Collegium system in some of his interviews post-retirement.

In 2014, the NDA government enacted the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act seeking to give the executive more say in the appointment of judges.

The six-member NJAC was to comprise the CJI, two senior-most Supreme Court judges, the law minister and two eminent persons to be chosen by a selection committee made up of the CJI, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

The SC in a 4:1 judgment, however, struck this down in October 2015, making it clear that judicial appointments will continue to be made by the Collegium system. The majority said that the NJAC would impinge on the “independence of the judiciary”, “separation of powers” and violate the “basic structure of the Constitution”.

The ruling said that “it is to be assumed that the independence and integrity of the judiciary is of the ‘highest importance’ not only to the judges but to the citizens seeking resort from a court of law against the high-handed and illegal exercise of power by the executive”.