New Delhi : With a battery of senior lawyers and former union law ministers in its ranks, the Congress that has been one of the strongest advocates of a change in the collegium system of appointment of judges has welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to quash the 99thconstitutional amendment and the NJAC Act with a caveat that this should not be used an occasion to build a confrontation between the judiciary and the parliament.
Using the apex court order to attack the Modi government, party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that the NJAC judgement implicitly reflects the lack of confidence in the government which has eroded institutional autonomy and constitutional safeguards over the 17 months.” But the important question is not who will appoint judges, but as to how the judges will be appointed? Whether the system of appointment of judges to higher judiciary can be transparent, accountable and responsible in a fashion that is best for the growth of a healthy democracy,” he added.
Referring to the problems of the collegium system, the Congress spokesperson said that it is shrouded in secrecy and over confidentiality. ” Discretion to appoint a judge must be based on objective and not subjective criteria, besides there has to be an institutional mechanism to check and address complaints of corruption and nepotism in higher judiciary,” he added.
In this context, the Congress spokesperson observed that the Supreme Court has itself recognized the shortcomings in the collegium system and has directed to hear arguments on this issue in the first week of November. Pointing out that this is the time to look forward, he said that all political parties must fiercely uphold the independence of judiciary and build a system of appointment of judges that is truly transparent, fully accountable and comprehensively responsible.
Meanwhile, former union law minister Kapil Sibal commented that it was an ill-conceived legislation by the NDA government and another former union minister Salman Khurshid observed that the contest is between two imperfect arrangements- the collegium system and the NJAC.