New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Friday quashed the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) in a landmark judgement and restored the two-decade-old collegium system for the appointment of judges in the higher judiciary.
In a majority decision, a five-judge Constitution Bench comprising justices J S Khehar, J Chelameswar M B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A K Goel said that both the 99th Amendment Act and the consequent NJAC Act were bad in law. Justice Chelameswar however gave a dissenting judgment.
While delivering the judgment, the apex court also invited suggestions from the government and others to improve the collegium system. Under it, an in-house panel of five senior-most judges recommend names for appointments.
This verdict has proved to be a major setback for the government. Union law minister D V Sadananda Gowda said he would consult Prime Minister Narendra Modi and legal experts. “We are surprised by the verdict of the Supreme Court,” Gowda said.
Gowda said the “will of the people has been properly represented by the government and as far as the further steps and other things are concerned, I will come back to you only after going through the text in detail and after consulting with the Honorable Prime Minister, our legal experts and others…”
INDIA LEGAL has been consistently following the controversy and here are some links of the earlier stories we carried:
NJAC’s Birth Pangs
Several hurdles have prevented the commission from taking off, including recusal by Justice JS Khehar, and CJI HL Dattu saying he can’t participate in it. At the root of the problem is independence of the judiciary By V Seshadri Whatever be the outcome of the Fourth Judges Case, the proceedings before the five-judge constitution bench… Click on the below Link to read further…http://indialegalonline.com/njacs-birth-pangs/
Judicial Oxygen
Elevation of judges to the Supreme Court under the collegium system has been fraught with controversy, says a legal luminary who wrote this piece exclusively for India Legal THE method and procedure of elevation of judges to the high court in the collegium system and the NJAC system is virtually the same. Public opinion is…Click on the below Link to read further….http://indialegalonline.com/judicial-oxygen/
Survival of the Fittest
Even after the second phase of hearing of challenges to the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, the collegium system is still pitted against it BY India Legal Team The new system of appointing judges in high courts and the Supreme Court, notified by the government on April 13, is a premature baby in the incubator. Click below to read further…
http://indialegalonline.com/survival-of-the-fittest-system/
A serious Vacuum
The stalemate over NJAC is having a deleterious effect on the vacancies of judges and additional judges in many high courts. This shows a serious deficit in the collegium system of appointments By Vinay Rai ON May 12, a Supreme Court five-judge constitution bench deferred the hearing of the Nat-ional Judicial Appoint- ments Commission (NJAC)… Click below to read further….