Jaconette appointed chief judge of three courts

A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court will deliver its verdict today on the crucial issue of whether the political class, through the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), should be given an equal role in the appointment of judges, including the Chief Justice of India.

Verdict on the fate of the Constitutional 99th amendment paving way for the NJAC and the NJAC Act, 2014 will be pronounced by the constitution bench comprising Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice J. Chelameswar, Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel. As of now, chief justice of the respective high courts and two other seniormost judges of the court comprise a collegium empowered by virtue of a 1993 judgment of the Supreme Court to identify suitable candidates, do due diligence and recommend for appointment as judges of the court.

Chief State Attorney, Sylvester Williams who moved the motion said the Attorney General is out of time because it had to conduct further search for a few vital information on the case challenging the procedure used in the appointment of two judges to the Supreme Court. The petitioners opposing NJAC voiced strong reservation on the presence of union law minister as one of the six members of the commission.

The NJAC was established by amending the Constitution [Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014] passed by the Lok Sabha on August 13, 2014 and by the Rajya Sabha on August 14 2014. He had added that Constitution never envisaged primacy of the CJI in appointing judges and that the Supreme Court wrongly assumed this power.

The seven member panel of judges hearing the suit by the Ghana Bar Association challenging the President’s appointment of Justice Yaw Appau and Gabriel Scott Pwamang have given the AG a fourteen days ultimatum to file their response to the suit brought against it.

For almost two decades, judges have been appointed or transferred by a collegium – a group of five senior judges.

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