JOIN USThe Supreme Court on Thursday said the Chief Justice of India and other senior judges can go ahead with appointment of judges even as the exercise for improving the collegium system was on.
A five-judge Constitution Bench presided over by Justice J S Khehar refused to pass any direction with regard to the functioning of the collegium which stood revived following the October 16 verdict that had invalidated the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act.
“We don’t want to say anything to the collegium because that is not our business. It is their (collegium’s) prerogative. But we don't want to delay. If collegium don't want to proceed because of something, we should also get going,” said the bench, also comprising Justices J Chelameswar, Madan B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and Adarsh K Goel.
The court’s significant observation came as senior advocate Fali S Nariman submitted that the collegium is a “work in progress” and it should be allowed to make appointments.
“The court should put it on your website and seek suggestions from everyone but it should not hold up your decision making. Collegium should function while the suggestions are collated and the bench goes on with its exercise,” said Nariman, who appeared on behalf of the SC Advocates on Record Association.
The other counsel also supported his view as more than 300 vacancies have to be filled up in high courts. However, senior advocate Gopal Subramanium differed saying that new appointments should not go through when the bench was still seized up with the issue relating to improvement of the collegium system.
Notably, Justice Khehar, who is part of the collegium, said he would not be a part of its proceedings till the matter was being heard by him.
After over two-hour long hearing, the court directed the Law Ministry to seek public opinion on improving the collegium system by November 13. It also allowed the Bar Council of India to clarify its position on request by its chairman M K Mishra. The court said it would restrict its hearing on November 18 and 19 on four specific issues of transparency, eligibility criteria for appointments, setting up a secretariat of collegium and complaint redressal mechanism.