Chief Justice of India to head judges’ appointment

The two bills were taken up separately after questions were raised by members over the legislative competence of the House, amid apprehension that it could be struck down by the judiciary as “ultra vires”. A determined government asserted that Parliament was supreme and was competent enough to enact these laws, and that it had no intention of transgressing on the independence of the judiciary through the new law.

Speaking on the issue, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad underlined that the new measure of appointing judges to the Supreme Court and high courts will come into effect only after the Constitution Amendment Bill was ratified by at least half the state Assemblies as required.

Sources said this process could take up to eight months. After receiving the ratification from the requisite number of Assemblies, the government will send it to the President for his assent.

Once this step is notified, the collegium system of judges appointing judges will be changed, with a six-member commission headed by the CJI making the appointments and transfers. The judiciary would be represented by two senior judges of the SC. Two eminent personalities and the Union law and justice minister will be the other members of the proposed body.

There have been several attempts to overturn the 20-year-old collegium system in the past, by both NDA and UPA governments. It finally fructified on the last day of the first working session of Parliament under the Modi government.

To bring the Congress on board, the government had on Wednesday dropped a controversial clause that required unanimity in the commission’s recommendation if the President sends a recommendation back to the panel for reconsideration.

Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad rejected the charge by the Opposition that the measure was brought in haste, saying the exercise had been going on for two decades.