New Delhi: The Supreme Court has decided to re-examin the collegium system of appointment of High Court and Supreme Court judges under which its recommendation is binding on the government.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, Justices S S Nijjar and J Chelameswar yesterday issued notices to the Centre and the Attorney General of India G E Vahanvati seeking their response to the Public Interest Litigation(PIL) seeking to refer the matter to an 11-judge bench.
The earlier judgement in Advocate on Record (AOR) association was delivered by a nine judge bench which has laid down the law that the opinion/recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium headed by the Chief Justice of India shall be binding on the government in the appointment of High Court and Supreme Court Judges. Therefore, the matter will have to be reconsidered by the 11-judge bench.
There have been criticism of the collegium system which also consists of four senior most Supreme Court judges besides CJI and there has been a widespread demand that eminent persons in the society as well as the government should also have a say in the appointment of the Judges of the superior courts.
The petitioner Suraz India Trust, an NGO, has contended that the Collegium system has proved to be a failure. Therefore, the nine judges bench judgement in AOR(Advocate on Record) case needs to be revisited by a larger bench. (UNI)