Megha Purohit

Judicial Appointements: A Pragmatic Approach Megha Purohit

Publisher Marketing: Essay from the year 2015 in the subject Law - Public Law / Constitutional Law / Basic Rights, language: English, abstract: The process of appointment of judges is being made through the "collegium system," which doesn't find mention in the Constitution of India, although it was created with the justification to insulate the judiciary from executive interference. But in reality, this system may be called as "judges appointing themselves." The Supreme Court in various cases, while interpreting the meaning of 124 (2) and 217 (1) of the Constitution and "consultation" with Chief Justice of India and other judges, wrongly held that there should be collegium of judges in appointment process. Hence, the process is phasing through a period, where it is concerned about sheering away from its basic constitutional principles, which though, are garnering massive issues in front of the country. This Collegium system is an opaque and non accountable system as the judges are not responsible for giving reason for the appointment of a particular person. At the same time, there is no transparency in the system which results in a "democratic deficit." If executives are made the part of Judicial Appointment Panel for appointing judges, it will enable equal participation of judiciary and executive, make the system of appointment more accountable and thereby increase the confidence of the public in the institution. The words of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill (JAC), 2013 are clear enough to understand that the motive of the legislature was only to ensure greater transparency in the Indian judiciary. The paper will try to focus on how the collegium system of appointing judges has given rise to the issue of favouritism, biasness and sycophancy. The authors will also try to interpret the concept of 'Basic Structure Doctrine' through various case-laws so as to establish a balance between judicial independence and judicial accountability. Furthermore, the authors will suggest so