New Delhi: The Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan has spoken out on the contentious collegium system of appointment of judges.
A helpless CJI has confessed that he was unable to make changes to the much debated collegium system of appointment of judges in India. In an interview to The Hindu newspaper, Justice Balakrishnan also says he leaves the decision to his successor.
"I am leaving this proposal to my successor to deal with," CJI told the paper.
The CJI says it's not possible to change the collegium system of appointment of judges without reviewing two key Supreme Court judgments. The Supreme Court judgments of 1993 that created the collegium system and the 1998 Presidential reference on the matter need to be reviewed first. He says the Centre must seek review of these relevant judgments.
Earlier, the Centre had suggested changes in the Memorandum of Procedure of appointment of judges to give greater say to the executive in the appointments and to ensure more transparency
The collegium system consisting of a panel of judges, headed by the CJI, selects judges. The system has been in place for over a decade and has often been criticised for being a closed system in which the judiciary selects its own judges. It was initially created to replace nepotism and arbitrariness in the system in which judges were appointed by the executive.
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