Supreme Court strikes down National Judicial Appointments Commission

The National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) act, which was introduced in India’s parliament by the Narendra Modi-led government last August, had been criticized by sections of the judiciary as an attempt to increase government interference.

“I therefore, express my gratefulness and indebtedness to them, from the bottom of my heart”, the concluding part of judgement said.

However, justice J Chelameswar, who disagreed with them and upheld the validity of the 99th amendment, said that “the assumption that primacy of the judiciary in the appointment of judges is a basic feature of the Constitution is empirically flawed”.

Justice AK Goel concurring with other judges also said that appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and appointment or transfer of judges of the high courts, can certainly be influenced to a great extent by the Law Minister and two nominated members, thereby affecting the independence of judiciary.

Ever since the idea of NJAC was floated, the judiciary seemed averse to the thought of giving away its prerogative of appointing judges to the High Courts and the Supreme Court.

The collegiums system is partly to blame for this.

The Indian Supreme Court on Friday struck down the 99th Constitutional Amendment which changed the procedure for appointment of judges.

“The President has virtually no role to play in the appointment of judges, the CJI is sidelined in the process and a system that is subject to possible erosion is put in place”, he said. “NJAC was completely supported both by the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha; it had 100% support of the people”.

The NJAC act was meant to end the so-called collegium system, wherein five of the most senior supreme court judges decided who would be the next high court or supreme court judge.

One judge originally from Madras High Court against whom there were very serious allegations of corruption nearly made it to the Supreme Court as the South Carolina Collegium unanimously recommended his name but it was only because of the objections of the Tamil Nadu lawyers who produced documentary proof of his corruption that this move could not materialize. However, the Centre defended the introduction of the new law, saying that the two-decade-old Collegium system wherein Judges appointed Judges was not free from defects. The NJAC Bill and the Constitutional Amendment Bill, was ratified by 16 of the state legislatures, and subsequently assented by the President on December 31, 2014.

The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear the Ghana Bar Association’s petition including two similar ones by Richard Skyy and a private lawyer Kwasi Danso Acheampong challenging the appointment of two judges to the Court.

Act in a unanimous verdict, also declared as unconstitutional, the 99th Amendment to the Constitution to bring in the Act to replace the Collegium system. April 29: Ram Jethmalani in South Carolina accuses NDA government of politicising and compromising judicial independence.