Advani demands judicial appointements, transfers to be merit based

Presently, judicial appointments, transfer of judges are decided by Collegium

Sensing the ongoing anti-corruption mood in the country, senior most leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), LK Advani, has started a yet another debate by demanding that judicial appointments and transfer of judges should be transparent and merit based.

Advani pointed out that because of the mystique, secrecy and confidentiality of the process of appointment, the process may not lead to appointment based on merit.  

“We are the world’s largest democracy which naturally expect that in so far as appointments to high judicial offices are concerned there must be transparency, fairness and a merit based system. Presently, judicial appointments and transfer of judges are decided by a forum of the Chief Justice of India and the four senior most judges of the Supreme Court which is popularly known as the Collegium. The Collegium system has its genesis in a series of three judgements in 1993, 1994 and 1998.  The first and second of these judgements were delivered by Justice JS Verma, former Chief Justice of India,” LK Advani wrote in his blog.

This is not the first time that Advani has raised the anti-corruption debate. The main opposition party has been leading a campaign against the Congress party led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for alleged corruption allegations in 2G spectrum allocation scam, 2010 Commonwealth Games and the multi-crore VVIP helicopter deal. But the anti-corruption campaign of the BJP suffered a dent because of the alleged corruption allegations within the party.     

The senior most leader of BJP has been equally critical of alleged corruption within his own party and had recently ensured that former party President Nitin Gadkari didn’t get a second term because of the alleged corruption charges against him. Advani has also been critical of the government formation in Jharkhand and corruption allegations against former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa who had to resign from the top post after intervention by Advani.

“These days the issue most discussed in the country is corruption. There was a time when all talk of corruption was related only to the executive – politicians and bureaucrats. No one talked of corruption in the judiciary, certainly not in the higher judiciary,” Advani further wrote in his blog.