NJAC
About:
- The NJAC suggests making the selection of justices to the High Court and Supreme Court, including the Chief Justice, more transparent. They will be chosen by a commission made up of representatives from the legislative, judicial, and civil society sectors.
- The National Judicial Commission (NJAC) was declared unlawful by the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench because it contravenes the Indian Constitution’s Basic Structure.
- Before the NJAC, the appointment of judges to the upper judiciary was governed by Articles 124 and 217 of the Constitution. According to these clauses, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and other judges will be “consulted” before the President of India nominates justices. The collegium system, which was established as a result, allowed the three senior Supreme Court judges to select prospective high court or Supreme Court judges. The NJAC took the place of the collegium.
Issues with Collegium System:
- It lacks transparency, functions like a cabal, and is opaque. Particularly concerning is its recent decision to nominate Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna over earlier nominations of worthy justices in their own right.
- There is no other authority that the Collegium is governed by. The absence of selection criteria, the deliberate overturning of prior decisions, and the selective release of meeting minutes are a few examples of the evidence.
- The decision to start a Collegium seemed questionable at first. This judgement was described by Justice Krishna Iyer as “an awful fraud on the Constitution.”
- Since the process used to choose judges is unknown, questions about propriety, self-selection, and nepotism are raised by the appointments made.
Opportunity lost:
- The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) might encourage diversity in the judiciary, stop undue politicisation of the system, raise the bar for appointments, make the selection process more fair, and restore public confidence in the system.
How to Continue:
- The Supreme Court might have altered the NJAC Act to add protections that would have made it constitutionally valid and reorganised it to guarantee that the court maintained majority authority over its decisions.
- The Supreme Court can take steps to enhance collegium accountability and transparency in order to make its operation democratic up till a better system is developed.
