President should set up panel on judges' issue: Congress MP

Legislations involving the higher judiciary should be handled by the President of India with help from eminent jurists from outside the judicial system, Congress parliamentarian Shantaram Naik said on Friday.

"In such situations, the President should be empowered to constitute a bench of eminent jurists, outside the judicial framework, to decide the fate of legislations in which judges' interests are involved," said Naik.

He was chairman of a parliamentary standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice and is a Rajya Sabha member from Goa.

He also said that the issue of "nepotism" in judiciary was a matter of concern.

Naik's comments came on the day the Supreme Court declared the National Judicial Appointments Commission unconstitutional and void and upheld the erstwhile collegium system for appointment of judges in the higher judiciary.

"Parliament unanimously echoed its opinion that there was nepotism of serious nature in the appointment of judges, and that in no other country judges appoint judges," Naik said.

"Parliament has to retrospect and try to restore the powers which it should enjoy as the primary constitutional body, as entrusted by the framers of the Constitution," the parliamentarian said in a statement.