New Delhi--With the collegium system under attack from the government, the Supreme Court Friday said that the new National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) can also make mistakes in selection of judges and that the President had not been given better status under the nascent law.
A Constitution Bench headed by Justice J S Khehar observed that since the NJAC will also appoint judges on the basis of materials available with the members, they could also make mistakes.
“The point is not who selects the judges; a collegium or NJAC or some other body. Selection is to be made on the basis of available material in any system and hence anybody can make mistakes. One of the most important questions that will arise in any system would be who can judge the potential of the candidates better,” it said.
The bench, also comprising Justices J Chelameswar, Madan B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and Adarsh K Goel, further questioned the government over blaming the top court for taking away the President’s power to appoint judges by its judgments in the Second Judge’s Case. By this judgment in 1993, the Court had established collegium, with primacy to the Chief Justice of India, for appointing judges to the higher judiciary.
The Bench said that if collegium was to be criticised for allegedly curtailing the President’s power in appointing judges, the NJAC was no better. “The power of the President is completely circumscribed under the NJAC. The NJAC Act says he ‘shall’ accept the recommendations made by the Commission. So the President has to mandatorily accept such recommendations. But you keep arguing that collegium was bad since it circumscribed the President’s power,” it said.
Indian Express
