Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday appointed an amicus curiae to decide on the maintainability of a plea seeking to notify the vacancies of the posts of judges in the High court and Supreme Court and invite applications from all eligible candidates including the lawyers practising in subordinate courts and tribunals. The petition was filed by P. Bijimon, a lawyer practising in Alappuzha. The petitioner pointed out that when it came to the question of selection and appointment by the current mechanism, the lawyers practising in the subordinate courts and tribunals were ignored.
Lawyers practising before tribunals and subordinate courts were not inferior to those practising at High Courts or Supreme Courts, the petitioner argued. Had the National Judicial Appointment Commiss- ion been allowed to go ahead, the Commission would have brought into existence a transparent system of selection and appointment of judges of the higher judiciary by inviting applications. The petitioner also sought to restrain the collegium of the High Court and Supreme Court from proceeding with the selection and appointment of judges to the High Court and the Supreme Court by means of the collegium system pending finalization of the memorandum of procedure(MoP).
