<p>The NDA government has initiated a move to enlist the views of political parties on a bill to replace the present collegium system of appointment of judges to higher judiciary.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has written a letter to leaders of major political parties on the need for a legislation to enable appointment of senior judges.<br /><br />The move comes in the wake of revelations that the previous UPA regime had nudged the Supreme Court collegium to recommend an extension for a Madras High Court judge, who was under corruption cloud.<br /><br />Prasad letter also comes against the backdrop of a controversy generated by the Centre's decision to return the recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium for appointment of senior lawyer Gopal Subramanium as an apex court judge.<br /><br />The minister had on July 21 said the government is seeking the views of various political parties and eminent jurists for setting up a Judicial Appointments Commission, which would scrap the present system of judges appointing judges.<br /><br />The Centre plans to introduce the bill in the ongoing session after tweaking an earlier bill brought by the UPA government. <br /><br />Sources said the NDA government has found "certain infirmities" in the UPA version. They added that the Centre is also mulling an all-party meeting to discuss the matter.<br /><br />A Constitutional Amendment Bill to set up the proposed commission has lapsed following the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha and an accompanying bill is pending in Rajya Sabha.<br /><br />"The government is seeking the views of various political parties and eminent jurists on the proposal for setting up of a Judicial Appointments Commission," Prasad had said.<br /><br />An earlier effort by the NDA-I government in 2003 to replace the collegium system met with no success. The then NDA government had introduced a Constitution amendment bill but Lok Sabha was dissolved when the bill was before a Standing Committee. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was the Law Minister then.<br /><br />The parliamentary nod to the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill eluded the UPA dispensation despite its having agreed to demands by jurists and BJP to grant constitutional status to a proposed commission for appointment and transfer of judges to the higher judiciary to ensure that its composition cannot be altered through an ordinary legislation.<br /><br />According to the UPA bill, while a new Article 124A of the Constitution would define the composition of the JAC, Article 124B will define its functions.</p>
<p>The NDA government has initiated a move to enlist the views of political parties on a bill to replace the present collegium system of appointment of judges to higher judiciary.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has written a letter to leaders of major political parties on the need for a legislation to enable appointment of senior judges.<br /><br />The move comes in the wake of revelations that the previous UPA regime had nudged the Supreme Court collegium to recommend an extension for a Madras High Court judge, who was under corruption cloud.<br /><br />Prasad letter also comes against the backdrop of a controversy generated by the Centre's decision to return the recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium for appointment of senior lawyer Gopal Subramanium as an apex court judge.<br /><br />The minister had on July 21 said the government is seeking the views of various political parties and eminent jurists for setting up a Judicial Appointments Commission, which would scrap the present system of judges appointing judges.<br /><br />The Centre plans to introduce the bill in the ongoing session after tweaking an earlier bill brought by the UPA government. <br /><br />Sources said the NDA government has found "certain infirmities" in the UPA version. They added that the Centre is also mulling an all-party meeting to discuss the matter.<br /><br />A Constitutional Amendment Bill to set up the proposed commission has lapsed following the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha and an accompanying bill is pending in Rajya Sabha.<br /><br />"The government is seeking the views of various political parties and eminent jurists on the proposal for setting up of a Judicial Appointments Commission," Prasad had said.<br /><br />An earlier effort by the NDA-I government in 2003 to replace the collegium system met with no success. The then NDA government had introduced a Constitution amendment bill but Lok Sabha was dissolved when the bill was before a Standing Committee. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was the Law Minister then.<br /><br />The parliamentary nod to the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill eluded the UPA dispensation despite its having agreed to demands by jurists and BJP to grant constitutional status to a proposed commission for appointment and transfer of judges to the higher judiciary to ensure that its composition cannot be altered through an ordinary legislation.<br /><br />According to the UPA bill, while a new Article 124A of the Constitution would define the composition of the JAC, Article 124B will define its functions.</p>