The Memorandum of Procedure for appointing judges that was seen as a major flashpoint of conflict between the judiciary and Government could be finalised by this month end.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) JS Khehar gave an indication about this development on Monday while hearing a case relating to an advocate who approached the court to complain that lawyers practicing in trial courts are hardly considered for elevation as High Court judges.
The lawyer Satya Veer Sharma, hailing from Gurgaon court, appeared in person to submit that under the present scheme, lawyers practicing in High Court alone get share to become HC judges, a practice that needed change.
Dismissing Sharma’s petition, the bench of CJI Khehar and Justice NV Ramana assured that things will change with the coming of the new Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for appointing judges of higher judiciary. “We will finalize the MoP within this month,” said the bench.
The issue of MoP has been a point of conflict between the Centre and judiciary.
In August 2016 the Centre wrote to SC for finalizing the MoP as per the apex court’s decision of October 2015 striking down the National Judicial Appointments Commission as unconstitutional and allowing Centre to frame new MoP in bringing transparency and accountability to the collegium system of appointments.