Sir — Everything relating to the Supreme Court collegium recommending the appointment of Mr Gopal Subramanium as Supreme Court judge, including the secret Intelligence Bureau report, and the Union Government refusing to endorse his name, is out in the media. Big controversy justifies the far-sighted verdict of the Central Information Commission directing to make public the appointment process of judges to higher courts. Successive Chief Justices of India deferred constituting a larger Bench to decide the Supreme Court’s own petition against the said CIC verdict with comments like, “Put it later”, “Put it after vacations”, “Put it before the successor” etc, after a Division Bench of the apex court directed its registry on November 26, 2010, to put the matter before the Chief Justice of India for constituting a larger Bench to decide the issue.
The episode also shows that the collegium system for the appointment of judges has been a total failure. Some judges could be elevated to the Supreme Court only after their rivals in the collegium retired from the Supreme Court. A National Judicial Commission, with retired Supreme Court judges as member-nominees of the Prime Minister, leader of Opposition, representative of the Bar Council and the Chief Justice of India, with the Chief Vigilance Commissioner as member-secretary, should be constituted.
This commission should be the sole authority for appointing judges not only in the higher judiciary but also in judicial panels where political rulers presently appoint retired judges. All IB reports on prospective judges should be made public.