After several cases of alleged corruption the government is toying with the idea of changing the existing appointment system for judges to the higher judiciary.
Union law and justice minister M. Veerappa Moily stated that the government is “thinking” of making changes in the appointment procedure.
Speaking to this paper, he stated that change could be made either through judicial action or legislative method. “The 1993 Supreme Court judgment and the 1998 Supreme Court judgment led to the present memorandum of procedure (which governs the appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts). But the system does not fully reflect the two judements in their letter and spirit,” Dr Moily said. He underlined that at the moment, the government is “thinking” and “no decision has been taken”. Dr Moily stated that there were two options to go about the process.
“Either we amend the Constitution or make a fresh law, or the present memorandum of procedure is reviewed by a bigger bench of the Supreme Court,” he said.
He was, however, non-committal when asked whether the government was considering doing away with the present collegium system for appointment of judges.
Under the collegium system, top five Supreme Court judges recommend names of judges to the government for their transfer or elevation.
A vision statement of the law ministry issued last year had stated that the collegium system of appointment of judges to the higher judiciary was coming in the way of ending shortage of judges and suggested involvement of executive and legislature to hunt for the best talent.