Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday said the Collegium system was not appreciated by the people and that as per the spirit of the Constitution, it was the job of the government to appoint judges.
Addressing the ‘Sabarmati Samvad’ programme organised by ‘Panchjanya’, a weekly magazine published by RSS, the Law Minister said that people could see politics among the leaders but they were unaware of the politics going on inside the judiciary during the appointment of judges.
Calling the Collegium system as being opaque and not transparent, Rijiju said that he has noticed that half of the time, the judges in India were busy deciding appointments, which was not their primary job and affected in delivery of justice.
Stressing the need to rethink about the collegium system of appointments to the higher judiciary, the Minister said that till 1993, every judge in India was appointed by the Law Ministry, in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.
He said this practice gave the country very eminent judges at that time. The Apex Court defined consultation as concurrence and further, the Collegium system was expanded by the judiciary in 1998, added the Union Minister.
As per Rijiju, the people of the country are not happy with the Collegium system.
He said there was no practice anywhere in the world except in India, where judges appointed judges.
The Minister added that if judges were instrumental in appointing judges themselves, then they cannot claim that they were above criticism.