The introduction of two eminent persons in appointing judges under the NJAC law continued to be a major irritant with a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court hearing plea that challenges the new law replacing the collegium system of judges-appointing judges.
On Tuesday, as the Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi began to give his finishing touch to the month-long arguments on the NJAC law and the accompanying Constitutional Amendment Act, the five-judge Bench, led by Justice JS Khehar, wished to know what purpose would be served by having eminent persons on board the NJAC as they enjoyed equal rights with other members — CJI and two other SC judges and law Minister — to decide the fate of judicial appointments.
Rohatgi said that the Government introduced eminent persons to infuse “public confidence” in the appointment process. He said that the Parliament responded to the changing times and collegium being seen as extremely secretive process, an attempt was made to make judges’ selection broad-based.
Attorney General explained that eminent persons would represent the lay citizenry of the country who will not only verify the background of candidates in the consideration zone but also publicly testify of the criteria adopted in the meetings. This would further the cause of transparency in selecting judges.
The Bench wished to know if transparency contemplated any of the six-member NJAC to go public over the candidate’s credentials as the Act also speaks of making each member “accountable”. Rohatgi clarified that transparency was expected within the NJAC and its functioning and this can be achieved in the report of the minutes of the NJAC meetings.
The Bench even had serious objections on several provisions in the new law. For instance, Section 5 laid down seniority as one among the essential criteria for HC judges to be appointed to Supreme Court. if this was followed, the bench told AG that the federal character of Supreme Court will get destroyed that allows representation of all HCs. A seniority list may cause several judges from a single HC to be appointed to SC. The arguments will continue on Wednesday.