Emboldened by the overwhelming support of various political parties, a confident Government is planning to bring the National Judicial Commission Bill in the Monsoon Session of the Parliament.
It is also mulling filing a review petition against the Supreme Court judgements barring jailed politicians from contesting elections and providing for instant disqualification of MPs/MlAs once convicted. The Government may even amend the law to nullify them. law Minister Kapil Sibal said on Friday that the Government is planning to bring the Bill in the session starting from Monday.
He said that some changes have been brought in the proposed legislation and it would hopefully be cleared in the next meeting of the Union Cabinet. The Bill is aimed at replacing the collegium system of appointment of judges and provides greater say to the Executive in the process. The Government, which in the past was finding little support on the issue of tampering with the system of judges' appointments, now appears confident about the passage of the Bill as most of the parties are miffed with the Supreme Court's recent judgements.
This anger was reflected at the all party meeting on Thursday where most parties supported the idea of changing the collegium system to bring greater transparency in the judicial appointments. Earlier, Sibal had held deliberations with leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley to discuss the matter. Jaitley in the past during debates in Parliament had supported the idea of such a Commission, but had advocated a balanced body with adequate representation of higher judiciary, jurists besides representatives of the Government and Opposition.
Sibal said that the Government is holding consultations with various political parties and based on a consensus arrived may go for a judicial review or adopt amending the People's Representation Act to nullify the Supreme Court's two judgements. Responding to the criticism that the Government is trying to negate measures aimed at decriminalising politics, Sibal said that while respecting judgements, the Centre has to discuss their repercussion on the political system of the country.
He said that all political parties will collectively deliberate on how to nullify them. Besides, the Election Commission and the law Commission are considering electoral reforms process, he pointed out.