On Monday, October 17, Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju stated that the people of the country are dissatisfied with the collegium system for the appointment of judges and that it is the government’s responsibility to appoint justices in accordance with the spirit of the constitution.
#WATCH | “If there is no way to bind the judiciary, words like ‘judicial activism’ are brought to use. Several judges pass observations which never become a part of judgement… As a judge you do not know practical difficulties, financial limitations,” says Law Min Kiren Rijiju pic.twitter.com/L12gCoU1L7
— ANI (@ANI) October 17, 2022
The minister was addressing the ‘Sabarmati Samvad’, an event organised by Panchjanya, the weekly magazine published by the RSS, which was held in Ahmedabad. Rijiju stated during his speech that he has observed that half of the time judges are “preoccupied” with deciding appointments, which causes their principal responsibility of delivering justice to suffer.
Law minister Kiran Rijiju advocates for central government’s intervention
The minister’s statements come after he stated at a conference in Udaipur last month that the collegium method of selection to the higher judiciary needs to be reconsidered.
Kiren Rijiju added that its the law ministry’s job is to see that the person whose name has been recommended for appointment by the collegium is fit to be a Supreme Court or High Court judge.
“We have three pillars — the executive, legislature, and judiciary. The executive and the legislature are bound and regulated by the judiciary, but if the judiciary goes astray, there is no mechanism to control it,” he said.
Allahabad HC judge writes to PM Modi about India’s Collegium system
Notably, in the year 2019, the then Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow Bench judge had also written to PM Modi alleging malpractices in India’s Collegium system. In his letter, Justice Rang Nath Pandey made some shocking allegations regarding the Collegium system for the appointment of judges. Referring to his personal experience of 34 years in the judiciary, Justice Pandey alleged that the only criteria for the appointment of judges in the Collegium system are casteism and nepotism.
Judicial appointment process in India
In India, a collegium consisting of the Chief Justice of India and four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court screens, scrutinizes, and recommends the candidates for appointments to the Supreme Court. The government cannot suggest any names to the collegium. In the case of High Courts, screening of candidates for appointment to high courts is done by a collegium of chief justices of respective high courts and four senior-most judges on the HC bench.
In addition to this, the deliberations of this collegium are mostly opaque and not disclosed to the public. There is high scope for nepotism and elite self-recruitment to top courts in this collegium system. The reason cited for this system is to ensure the independence of judges.
