FROM 1993-2019: HAS COLLEGIUM OVER-LIVED ITS UTILITY?

Abstract

The issue of judicial appointments by the collegium system has been in the news recently. The January 2019 resolution to elevate Justice Khanna and Justice Maheshwari to the Supreme Court has left the nation perplexed about the grounds on which the resolution of December 2018, to elevate Justices Menon and Nandrajog, had been rescinded. The Collegium System emerged as a procedure to appoint judges to the higher judiciary in the famous Second Judges’ Case. In 2015, the SC struck down the 99th Constitutional Amendment which sought to amend the procedure of appointments to the higher judiciary in India. The presence of the Law Minister in the commission appointing judges was held to be an unacceptable interference of the executive with the independence of the judiciary. The collegium system, so introduced is a product of ‘judicial activism’ and a process of ‘self-selection.’ The Supreme Court is the guardian of ‘rule of law’ and it has a responsibility to be free from self-prejudices and biases. This paper seeks to analyse the journey of the collegium system up till now and concludes with measures to be taken to improve the transparency in the appointment of judges to higher judiciary in India