Government introduces bill in LS to scrap collegium system

The government Monday introduced two bills in the Lok Sabha to replace the collegium system of appointing judges and to reform the judiciary.

Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad introduced the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2014, and the Constitution One Hundred and Twenty-First Amendment Bill.

The judicial appointments commission bill seeks to regulate the procedure to be followed for recommending people for appointment as Chief Justice of India and other judges of the Supreme Court as well as the high courts and their transfer.

The constitution bill seeks to put the proposed commission and its entire composition in the constitution.

As per the proposal, the Chief Justice of India will head the commission.

Besides the chief justice, the judiciary would be represented by two senior judges of the Supreme Court.

Two eminent personalities and the law minister will be the other members of the proposed panel.

While the constitutional amendment bill requires two-third majority, an ordinary bill requires a simple majority.

Earlier in the day, the government withdrew the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2013 in the Rajya Sabha and said two new bills will be brought.

The bill provided for establishing a Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) to make recommendations to the president on appointment and transfer of judges in the higher judiciary.

Seeking permission to withdraw the bill, Prasad said it was a bill that the standing committee had disapproved.

While the Congress objected to the withdrawal, most parties supported the government, calling it a part of streamlining judicial appointments.