Government Takes on Supreme Court Over New Judges Appointment System

The NDA government today strongly defended the new system of appointing judges to the Supreme Court and high courts and questioned the top court's move to examine the validity of the new laws.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the court that the issue is premature and the two laws are yet to be notified and are not in force and hence the court can't examine the validity of the laws.

He quoted the top court's judgements to justify his point that unless laws come into force its validity can't be examined.

Adjourning the case for a detailed hearing on March 17, the Supreme Court said it will first decide whether the Public Interest Litigations challenging the two laws can be examined at this stage or can the issue be referred to a Constitutional bench.

Supreme Court Bar association President Dushant Dave told the court that the existing collegium system of selecting judges by judges themselves was not transparent and supported the new system.

A large number of petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the laws to help replace the existing collegium system of judicial appointments with the institution of the National Judicial Appointments Commission.