File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi
New Delhi:
The constitution amendment bill on the selection of judges that the government hopes to bring to Parliament next week will include several new provisions, including making it mandatory for the chief minister of a state to be consulted when High Court judges are appointed.
After several recent controversies, the government is seeking to hasten the process of scrapping the collegium system of a team of Supreme Court judges selecting judges for High Courts and the Supreme Courts. The six-member national commission that it wants set up to select judges instead, will be headed by the Chief Justice of India, and will have as its members two judges of the Supreme Court, the Union Law Minister and two eminent persons.
One of the eminent persons, who will be appointed by the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and Leader of the Opposition, must either be a woman or a member of a minority community or from an SC and ST or OBC (Other Backward Class), the government has proposed in a new clause.
It has already added another stringent clause that an objection by any two of six panelists on a judicial commission that will select High Court and the Supreme Court judges, will count as a veto.
The Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, introduced by the previous Manmohan Singh government last year. It was passed by the Rajya Sabha but was not moved in the Lok Sabha and lapsed with the dissolution of the House this year.
The Modi government has written to 26 political parties asking them to suggest changes in the proposed new bill, which has been a cause of friction between the executive and the judiciary. Senior judges have said they prefer the collegium system.
When the government asked the Supreme Court collegium to reconsider the case of lawyer Gopal Subramanium for a judge's post recently, Chief Justice of India RM Lodha had voiced displeasure. His criticism was seen as a setback to the government's plan to move the Judicial Commission Bill.
But the plan found new impetus after the allegation by Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katju last month that three former Supreme Court Chief Justices had made "improper compromises" to grant extensions to an additional judge of the Madras High Court.
After several recent controversies, the government is seeking to hasten the process of scrapping the collegium system of a team of Supreme Court judges selecting judges for High Courts and the Supreme Courts. The six-member national commission that it wants set up to select judges instead, will be headed by the Chief Justice of India, and will have as its members two judges of the Supreme Court, the Union Law Minister and two eminent persons.
One of the eminent persons, who will be appointed by the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and Leader of the Opposition, must either be a woman or a member of a minority community or from an SC and ST or OBC (Other Backward Class), the government has proposed in a new clause.
It has already added another stringent clause that an objection by any two of six panelists on a judicial commission that will select High Court and the Supreme Court judges, will count as a veto.
The Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, introduced by the previous Manmohan Singh government last year. It was passed by the Rajya Sabha but was not moved in the Lok Sabha and lapsed with the dissolution of the House this year.
The Modi government has written to 26 political parties asking them to suggest changes in the proposed new bill, which has been a cause of friction between the executive and the judiciary. Senior judges have said they prefer the collegium system.
When the government asked the Supreme Court collegium to reconsider the case of lawyer Gopal Subramanium for a judge's post recently, Chief Justice of India RM Lodha had voiced displeasure. His criticism was seen as a setback to the government's plan to move the Judicial Commission Bill.
But the plan found new impetus after the allegation by Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katju last month that three former Supreme Court Chief Justices had made "improper compromises" to grant extensions to an additional judge of the Madras High Court.
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