Why SC may reject Centre’s proposal to include government representation in Collegium

Justice Ruma Pal while commenting on the Collegium system said that it had become a I scratch your back, you scratch mine mechanism

New Delhi, Jan 16: A month and half after publicly stating that the Supreme Court's Collegium lacks in transparency, the Centre has written to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) suggesting the inclusion of government representatives in the Collegium which recommends the names of the judges to be appointed.

Union Law Minister, Karen Rijiju also suggested that the High Court Collegium too should have a representative of the state government in order to dispel the notion that there is no transparency in the appointment of judges to the higher judiciary.

The letter is in sync with what former judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Ruma Pal had said 10 years back. She had said, 'as I have said elsewhere, the process by which a judge is appointed to a superior court is one of the best kept secrets in this country.'

The very secrecy of the process leads to an inadequate input of information as to the abilities and suitability of a possible candidate for appointment as a judge. Consensus within the collegium is sometimes resolved through a trade-off resulting in dubious appointments with disastrous consequences for the litigants and the credibility of the judicial system, Justice Ruma Pal had said.

She further added that besides institutional independence has been compromised by growing sycophancy and lobbying within the system. The view that the Collegium process of selection operates on you scratch my back, I scratch yours is fast gaining ground, she had also said.

A Times of India report said that the suggestion by the Centre may not be accepted by the CJI led Collegium system. The Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India, D Y Chandrachud also comprises Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, K M Joseph, M R Shah and Ajay Rastogi. The SC is of the opinion that the suggestion to include government representatives in the two-tier judge selection mechanism is a fresh attempt to bring through the backdoor shades of National Judicial Appointment Commission Act which was passed unanimously by the Parliament but quashed as unconstitutional by a 5-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in October 2015.

The NJAC was to be headed by the CJI and comprise two senior most judges, the law minister and two eminent persons selected by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, leader of Opposition and the CJI.