The hon’ble Supreme Court will hear the recommendations by the Government to improve collegium. The Government may also ask the court to specify criteria for the selection of judges and state reasons for choosing or rejecting the candidates. It will also recommend the Court to publish the matter in websites to make it available to the public. The Supreme Court will also invite recommendations from various interested persons to develop the collegium which starts on Tuesday. On October 16, the Supreme Court had struck down National Judicial Appointments Commission Act and had invited recommendations to make improvements to the collegium system that exists today for the appointment of Supreme Court and High Court judges.
The Government may also make suggestions that the collegium should mention reasons for the choosing and rejection of candidate during the process of selection to apex court and should publish the list in the websites. To make a final report to the Supreme Court, the official under the Ministry of Law had discussions with the Attorney General on Monday. A meeting was also convened in the presence of law minister with the senior officers that discussed the issue in detail. After the judgment where the Supreme court validated the collegium system that exists at present for the appointment of judges, a meeting was held by the law ministry where the officials decided that the application for review shall not be provided.
The Government also made a conclusion that they will make recommendation to improve the collegium. It is also said that the Government is waiting for a report from the parliamentary standing committee as well as the select committee regarding the order on NJAC to reach a final solution. Subsequent the Supreme Court order on NJAC, the Central Government accepted two suggestions of the Supreme Court collegium where one of them includes the appointing of 22 additional judges to different High Courts of the States.
Adv. Jewel Panicker