Govt to re-think changing appointment procedure of judges of SC/HC

New Delhi, July 31 (UNI) The government will soon initiate the process for arriving on a consensus among various political parties on setting up a National Judicial Commission and restoring the pre-1993 status on appointment of judges to High Courts and Supreme Courts when the executive had more influence in the process.

Law Minister Hans Raj Bharadwaj told the Rajya Sabha during the Question Hour that though the government does not want to dilute the autonomy of the judiciary, it was of the view that the executive must have a say in the appointment of judges, as was the case prior to 1993 since Parliament was also responsible for providing justice to people.

However, this was not possible without a Constitutional Amendment and for that there need to be a consensus among the various political parties, he said. ''The government could not hasten the process on its own due to the sensitive nature of the issue,'' he said.

The Minister was reacting to concerns expressed by Ravi Shanker Prasad (BJP) over the ''logjam in appointment of judges due to dicotomy in the collegium'' and Janata Dal (United) President Sharad Yadav's charge of ''judiciary being anti-poor and appointment of their own relatives as judges by the judiciary.'' However, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury however clarified that the members were not casting an aspertions on judiciary but questioning the infallability of it.

Asserting that giving proper respect to executive view was not an interference in the judiciary, the Law Minister said that if there was a unanimity then the government could ''re-think'' in bringing a constitutional amendment to restore prior to 1993 status and setting up a National Judicial Commission. However, it could not give an assurance on this issue during Question Hour as these are ''complicated issues and need proper thinking and unanimity.'' On the members demand that the government should initiate the process of arriving at a consensus, the Law Minister said that the dicussion on this issue would soon be initiated outside the house so as to arrive a unanimity on bringing justice system close to poor people.

The appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts are done by the President. Prior to 1993, the Executive was responsible for initiating the proposal for appointment of judges and after processing the names collected in consultation with the state governments, the proposal was referred to the Chief Justice of India for his ''advice.'' The advice was in the nature of ''consultation'' and did not mean ''concurrence.'' However, in 1993, the Supreme Court, in a judgement, held that the entire process of initiation of proposal for appointment of judges of the Supreme Court lies with the Apex Court and for judges of High Court lies with the Chief Justice of that High Court.

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