The bjpled government of 19982003 had appointed the justice m. Constitutionality of njac and replace collegium system. However, the constitutionality of njac was challenged in the supreme court by a group of lawyers and in a 4. The njac replaced the collegium system for the appointment of judges. It held that the collegium system, as it existed before the njac, would. Judicial appointments supreme court collegium takes big step towards transparency, makes its appointment process public decisions on selection of judges to the higher judiciary highly. This included transparency, an eligibility criteria, a secretariat to assist the collegium and dealing with complaints against persons being considered for appointment.
But actually indian constitution contains both features of a federal constitution and unitary constitution. The njac bill and the constitutional amendment bill. Collegium system,judicial appointments,gs prelims, gs. Judiciary is one of the main pillars of the nation in a democratic country. Recently, leader of opposition in rajya sabha arun jaitley said that collegium system of appointing judges also lacks in terms of quality and integrity. Through njac government is trying to interfere or monitor the independence judiciary. Gk, general studies, optional notes for upsc, ias, banking, civil services. Collegium system of supreme court and high courts of india, based on the precedence established by the three judges cases, is a legally valid system of appointment and transfer of judges in the supreme court of india sc and all high courts of india hc. There is an argument that njac is unconstitutional or void in some extend. Legal a critique alert tact, 2014 hereinafter called the. Venkatachaliah commission to opine whether there was need to change the collegium system.
The supreme court rejected the national judicial appointments commission njac act and the 99th constitutional amendment which sought to give politicians and civil society a final say in. It advocated that it can probe cases of misconduct by judges, including sc strucks njac as unconstitutional njac vs. Health care provider or provider means an individual or entity, including for the purposes of this chapter, a group practice or faculty practice, which provides a covered benefit or. Anil divan, senior advocate the manner in which the bill is structured gives complete dominance to the executive and the legislature and i will tell you why. Lets understand the collegium and njac system of appointing and transferring the judges. Constitution 121st amendment bill, 2014 and the national judicial appointments commission njac bill, 2014 seek to establish an njac which will mandate the appointment of cji, judges to sc and hc as well as transfer of judges to hc. This is the full text of the supreme courts judgment on the validity of the njac, in which it brought back the collegium system for appointment of judges to the higher judiciary. The nda government has tried twice, unsuccessfully both times, to replace the collegium system with a national judicial appointments commission njac.
National judicial appointments commission njac was a proposed body which would have been responsible for the appointment and transfer of judges to the higher judiciary in india. In what is one of the biggest mergers since the integration of sbi with five associate banks, sitharamam announced the merger of punjab national bank pnb, oriental bank of commerce obc and united bank of india. As a collegium ramazzini fellow the undersigning author is obliged to the spirit and principles of this independent international society. The collegium system has been criticized for its impracticality and opaqueness and improper implementation. The njac act and the amendment leave the power of judicial appointments, in the hands. Rs aggarwal reasoning full pdf book download wbcs exam.
The sc in the njac judgment formulated four areas in which the collegium system could improve so as to make it more efficacious. Apart from these drawbacks of the collegium system which the njac act fails to overcome, it has several loopholes and setbacks of its own. Judicial appointments conundrum prenjac verdict civilsdaily. As of now, no certain answer to these queries can be found. The commission was established by amending the constitution of india through the ninetyninth constitution amendment with. It has been the matter of debate among the scholars that whether the constitution of india is completely federal or unitary in nature. The njac as compared to the collegium system was to give out more transparency. Act, 2005 would be applicable to the njac, could be revealed after the njac act comes into full effect and the regulations and rules thereunder are formulated. This has been now referred to as fourth judge case. The validity of article 124 a, which basically did away with the collegium, replacing it with the njac.
Forget njac or collegium, the judiciary is sinking under. In a bid to reform the judicial system, parliament of india amended the constitution and brought about the 99th amendment to provide for the njac after the new government came to power. Collegium as a method of selecting judges racolb legal. The njac was a body created to end the twodecadeold supreme court collegium system of judges appointing judges to the highest courts in the land. Gupta vs union of india second judges case supreme court advocatesonrecord association v union of india upendra kushwaha post. Therefore, the government argued that the njac will bring an end to this problem of the collegium system and will strengthen the independence of. Business standard compares the two system of appointment of judges by continuing to use this site you consent to the use of cookies on your device as described in our cookie policy unless you have disabled them. The constitution ninetyninth amendment act, 2014 sought to replace the collegium system with the national judicial appointments commission njac.
With utmost respect, honble shri justice dave is a member of the collegium. Collegium system of appointing judges complete details. Why njac is better than the collegium system politics r jagannathan aug 16, 2014 10. To conclude it may be said, that the njac, may be a step ahead of the collegium system in terms of judicial.
The njac would have replaced the collegium system for the appointment of judges as invoked by the supreme court via judicial fiat by a new system. Goel had reserved its judgement on july 15 on the issue of validity of the 99th constitutional amendment. The judges in lower courts below the level of hc are appointed by respective hc collegium. Why the collegium system needs to go on business standard. Cji responds to ravi shankar prasad upsc materials. Constitutionality of njac is not perfect governing body to select appointments of judges of supreme court, high court and transfer of high court judges. Sc collegium makes decisions on judges appointments. But the supreme court declared the amendment act as unconstitutional with a majority 41 judgment. But in that case, it could be by judges who are not part of the collegium as of today or, if an njac is to be constituted today, could be a member thereof. The decisions of the collegium are made through voting and the majority view prevails in case of difference of opinion. The national judicial appointments commission njac is a constitutional body proposed to replace the present collegium system of appointing judges.
Three judge case and collegium system upsc ias exams. Section 5 and 6 deal with recommendations for the chief justice of india as. The constitutionality of the njac act and the 121st constitutional amendment is a subject of circumspection. An expansion of its jurisdiction while restricting the process of appointment to itself does not behoove well. Tagged 99th amendment appointment of judges in india collegium system first judges case. National judicial appointments commission passed by the lok sabha on august 2014 and by the rajya sabha on 14 august 2014. In sharp criticism of the national judicial appointments commission njac judgment which revived the supreme court collegium, union law minister ravi shankar prasad said on sunday that at the core of the verdict is the judiciarys distrust in the capability of the law minister and the prime minister to appoint a fair judge. If the collegium was not revived, then there were chances that president may become a tyrant by assuming absolute powers to appoint judges on his own this is how the supreme courts constitution bench explained its decision to restore the collegium previously, solicitorgeneral had argued against the revival of the collegium in case the bench decided to strike down the njac.
The supreme court rejected the national judicial appointments commission njac act and the 99th constitutional amendment which sought to give politicians and civil society a final say in the appointment of judges to the highest courts. The collegium for the appointment of judges of supreme court is headed by the chief justice of india and comprises of the four other seniormost judges of the supreme court. The supreme court bar association favoured njac for appointment and transfer of judges. Along with the constitution amendment act, the national judicial appointments commission act, 2014, was also passed by the parliament of india to regulate the functions of the national judicial. National judicial appointments commission wikipedia. The njac replaced the collegium system in appointment of judges. Forget njac or collegium, the judiciary is sinking under the burden of pending cases. The supreme court on friday struck down national judicial appointments council njac as unconstitutional. One of the acts amended the constitution to replace the method of appointment of judges by a collegium system with that of an independent commission, called the national judicial appointments commission njac. Collegium system in india upsc, essayrecently, the supreme court collegium has arbitrarily withdrawn its own decision on appointing two judges and has recommended names of two other judges to the government for elevation to the supreme court by superseding 3 judges senior to them. Subsequent ratification of 20 states was also obtained and it seemed that the collegium was history. The national judicial appointments commission njac was established by the union government of india by amending the constitution of india through the 99 th constitutional amendment act, 2014.
Collegium ramazzinias an international scientific society that examines critical issues in occupational and environmental health, with a view towards action to prevent disease and promote. Njac is unconstitutional upsc online ias preparation. Collegium system of appointment of judges in supreme court. The lok sabha on august 2014 and the rajya sabha on 14 august 2014 passed the national judicial appointment commission njac bill, 2014 to scrap the collegium system of appointment t o scrap the collegium system of appointment of judges. Collegium system,judicial appointments,gs prelims, gs mains paper ii. The arguments and counterarguments on business standard. Latest current affairs and news current affairs today. Which system for appointment of judges is better, the old. This system of appointment was struck down by the sc which promoted the collegium system of selecting judges. Collegium system of appointing judges, there has been a lot of discussion and debates on collegium system of appointing the judges. The national democratic alliance government at the centre had passed the njac bill to remove the twodecadeold collegium system, where a group of judges decided who would be judges in the supreme court sc and high courts. The system has a twomember veto power enabling any two of the consisting members to veto the decision of the rest if the decision stands ill with their ideal pick for a judge. The amendment act was passed by both the houses of parliament with twothirds of majority in august, 2014.