The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that the PILs challenging the validity of the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) Act may have to go to a larger bench.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the apex court that if the 1993 nine-judge bench decision putting in place the collegium system of appointment of judges to the high court and Supreme Court were to be used for testing the muster of the new law, then a larger bench may have to decide the matter.
Rohatgi submitted before a five-judge bench presided over by Justice J S Khehar that the NJAC has become a reality with an amendment to the Constitution. “The nine-judge bench decision interpreted Article 124 of the Constitution (putting in place the collegium system), according to me, it was wrong. It does not require reconsideration,” Rohatgi said.
“The SC now can’t test the new provisions of the NJAC Act on old interpretation by the nine-judge bench...if it is so, then it (the PILs) may have to go to a lager bench,” he said.