Govt seeks views of parties on appointment of judges

The NDA government has initiated a move to enlist the views of political parties on a bill to replace the present collegium system of appointment of judges to higher judiciary.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has written a letter to leaders of major political parties on the need for a legislation to enable appointment of senior judges.
The move comes in the wake of revelations that the previous UPA regime had nudged the Supreme Court collegium to recommend an extension for a Madras High Court judge, who was under corruption cloud.
Prasad letter also comes against the backdrop of a controversy generated by the Centre's decision to return the recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium for appointment of senior lawyer Gopal Subramanium as an apex court judge.

The minister had on July 21 said the government is seeking the views of various political parties and eminent jurists for setting up a Judicial Appointments Commission, which would scrap the present system of judges appointing judges.
The Centre plans to introduce the bill in the ongoing session after tweaking an earlier bill brought by the UPA government.