New Delhi : The Supreme Court collegium has once again rejected the procedure suggested by the government for the appointment of the higher judiciary judges, asserting that the government having the final say would undermine the judicial independence and thereby the basic feature of the Constitution.
A meeting of the 5-member collegium, head by Chief Justice T S Thakur with four senior most Apex Court judges, was held recently in the light of the government’s clarifications conveyed to the CJI through external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, who was sent by the government as an emissary to end the standoff on the appointments of the Supreme Court and High Court judges.
Sources said the main sticky point in the government’s draft Memorandum of Procedure is the executive’s power to reject the recommendations of the collegium on the ground of security considerations.
Even though Sushma Swaraj assured the CJI that this provision was kept as an extreme precaution to prevent any unwanted persons becoming the judges and not for any greater say to the executive. The collegium, however, felt that other safeguards were sufficient to deal with the perceived threat.
The delay in the finalisation of the Memorandum of Procedure has held up appointments of 400 judges.
