Madras High Court Advocates Association moves the Madras High Court challenging the list of 9 persons forwarded by the collegium for appointment as judges

The Madras High Court Advocates’ Association (MHAA) has filed a writ petition before the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Supreme Court Secretary-General and others to send back the list of nine persons recommended for filling vacancies of judges in the Madras High Court.

 

Madras High Court

At present, there are 18 vacancies in the High Court. The sanctioned strength of judges is 60. A similar situation was witnessed in January last year when a PIL was filed seeking the return of a list of 12 names suggested then by the High Court collegium. The list was ultimately sent back.

In the present petition, the MHAA secretary, S.Arivazhagan, submitted that the High Court collegium had recommended nine names for appointment. The association had requested the court to consider persons from unrepresented communities in strict compliance with the constitutional mandate of achieving social justice.

The association said the present collegium system of selecting judges was much criticised by experts and advocates. Ultimately, the sufferers were the litigant public. It was being openly spoken at the Bar that some judges appointed were indecisive due to non-exposure in various fields of law. Despite the increase in the number of judges, quality and quantity of disposals had remained unsatisfactory. This was because in the collegium system there was no yardstick for selecting suitable candidates. The process of consultation was conspicuously absent.

The petitioner said the association wanted the entire vacancies to be filled up by upholding social justice. The Association has sought for a direction to the authorities concerned to drop the present move of appointing nine persons as judges to the 9 vacancies in the Madras High Court and for a direction to them to redo the same afresh, after taking into consideration the demands of the advocates.

 

Collegium system becomes history as the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill receives the assent of the President of India

The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Bill passed by Parliament in August this year that seeks to do away with the collegium system of appointing judges to higher judiciary has received the assent of the President. Being a Bill in the nature of a constitutional amendment, it required ratification by at least 50% of the state legislatures, which requirement was also satisfied with 16 of the 29 states ratifying the Bill. 

Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi

The new law facilitates the setting up of a commission for appointment of judges, replacing the 20-year-old collegium system, which had been under severe criticism for its lack of transparency in the matter of processing of names for appointment as judges to the higher judiciary. 

With the assent of the President, all decks have been cleared for the setting up of the NJAC, which will appoint and transfer judges to the Supreme Courts and the 24 High Courts. The124th amendment to the Constitution grants Constitutional status to the NJAC and its composition which will be headed by the Chief Justice of India.

Besides the CJI, 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 body. 

Though the assent of the President has been obtained the new law, that is, the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 will not come into effect at once. Going by Section 1(2) of the Act, the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 will now come into force on such date as the Central Government may notify in the Official Gazette. Therefore the nation may have to wait a while before the days of the collegium system, well and truly, come to an end. 

The full text of the  National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2014 as passed by both the Houses of Parliament can be accessed here