Govt fine-tunes proposed body to replace collegium

Keen to bring a bill to scrap the present system of appointment of judges, the government is weighing its options on the shape of the proposed body to replace the collegium system.

While some legal luminaries are of the view that the proposed Judicial Appointments Commission should be a ‘permanent’ body with its chairperson and members having a fixed tenure, others feel that an ‘ex officio’ body, as proposed by the previous UPA government in its bill, was sufficient.

Working to bring the bill in the ongoing session of Parliament, the government is learnt to be looking into both the options. While a permanent body would mean that the chairperson and other members would have a fixed tenure, in an ex officio commission, members would become part of it by virtue of holding a certain post.