Restore practice of consultation over judges' appntmt: TMC MP

A Trinamool Congress member in the Rajya Sabha today expressed concern over the practice of judges appointing judges and sought that the earlier exercise of consultation between the judiciary and the government should be resumed.
Moving a private member's bill on the issue of judges' appointment, senior TMC leader Sukhendu Sekhar Ray also indirectly referred to the recent press conference by four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court and said "I want this debate to continue and the matter discussed again and again and the issue kept alive.
"This government must intervene to address the problem because it has already come to the surface," he asserted.

"A press conference was held recently and something is being held which is not very healthy for our democracy," Ray said while moving his Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (amendment of article 366) for consideration and passage.
Apparently opposing the practice of Collegium system for appointing judges, he said "India is the only country in the world, where judges appoint judges."
He said his legisation intended to amend the Constitution to restore the pre-1993 process for selection of judges of high courts and Supreme Court and sought a debate on the matter.

Prior to the first judgment on the matter in 1993, as a matter of convention the government used to consult the Chief Justice of India in the appointment of judges.

Ray said the intent of the framers of the Constitution was to have a balance of power between the judiciary and the executive in such appointments.
The constituent assembly neither wanted to give this appointing power either to the President or the Legislature and even not to the CJI, Ray said.
"Ambedkar had ruled out concurrence in the favour of consultation for appointment of judges either in the Supreme Courts or in the High Court. Unfortunately, after following this procedure over a decade, suddenly in 1993 all of us know that how it happened and what happened" he said.
The process of consultation in appointment of judges was going on but it was derailed by the Supreme Court in 1993 through a judgement in 1993 and through its advisory judgement given in 1998, he said.

"From 1993 the scenario drastically changed and this Parliament unanimously enacted the constitution amendment bill National Judicial Appointments Commission, which was again set aside by the apex Supreme Court on the ground that consultation means concurrence," Ray contended.
Even late Chief Justice J S Verma, who was the main architect of 1993 apex court judgement, had said that his judgement was "misunderstood and misused" and there was a need for rethink, the TMC leader said.
The President, he said, now "is bound by the recommendations of the judiciary and he has no options. This would going to denigrate the position of the President of India," he added.

Discussion on the bill remained inconclusive.