President gives nod to NJAC Bill

President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday gave his assent to the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Bill, which was passed by the Parliament in August this year.

The NJAC bill seeks to replace the collegium system of appointing judges to higher judiciary.

Welcoming the move, Retired Justice R S Sodhi said it was the need of the hour as the collegium system did not match up to the expectation.

"A good beginning, so far as we know, change was needed as collegium system did not match up to what was expected," Sodhi said.

The Commission will have the Chief Justice of India as chairperson and two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court as members, apart from the Union Law Minister and two eminent personalities, with one of them nominated from among the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, minorities, Other Backward Classes or women.