‘Parliament’s sanctity as vital as independence of judiciary’

A day after Chief Justice RM Lodha opposed the Government’s move to replace the collegium system, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad introduced a Bill to replace the system in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, declaring that the “Government has no intention to have a confrontation with the judiciary.”

Introducing the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2014, Prasad said the “role of the executive had become limited” under the existing collegium system, adding that “independence of the judiciary is important, but the sanctity of Parliament is equally important.”

The Bill aims to replace the existing collegium system of “judges appointing judges” in the Supreme Court and high courts by setting up a National Law Commission.

The proposed Commission will be headed by the Chief Justice and have as members the two senior-most Supreme Court judges, the Law Minister, two eminent persons to be nominated by the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition. “One of these will be from the Scheduled Castes/Tribes or Other Backward Classes,” the Minister said.

The Government’s move to do away with the collegium system was strongly opposed by Lodha, who recently defended the system, saying: “If the collegium system has failed then we are all failed.” He said the move would “shake people’s faith in the judiciary” and “tarnish its image” and was uncalled for just because there were complaints of wrong-doing by a few judges.

Justifying the Bill, Prasad invoked BR Ambedkar on why there was need to change the system where judges appoint judges. “The collegium system needs to be changed…all judges today are appointees of the system,” Prasad said, questioning why the system had not thrown up judges such as VR Krishna Iyer and HR Khanna.

Incidentally, the Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha without prior circulation of its copies after Speaker Sumitra Mahajan used her discretion, invoking protest from the Congress.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge noted that the Speaker was giving such an exemption to the Government under Rule 388 for the third time. “There is no agenda, no rules, no procedure. You should not be bulldozing things and bringing Bills any time without proper notice,” he said.

Prasad, however, tried to win over the Opposition by expressing his gratefulness to them for allowing him to introduce the Bill of “great historical importance”.

Brushing aside Opposition criticism that the Government is “rushing through” the Bill, Prasad listed four attempts by successive Governments in the past 20 years to amend the Constitution as the present collegium system of appointing judges to higher judiciary had not been found adequate.

He said he had held the widest possible consultations on the issue, including with eminent jurists such as AM Ahmadi, Shanti Bhushan, Soli Sorbajee and VN Khare. The views of all the political parties as well as the Standing Committee were also considered before bringing in the Bill, he said, terming Parliament as the ‘biggest panchayat of India”.

COMMENT NOW