Supreme Court to hear plea against collegium

The CJI gave the assurance to advocate Mathews J. Nedumpara during the morning mentioning time when he sought urgent listing of a writ petition filed by him

Supreme Court of India: File picture

R. Balaji   |   TT  |  New Delhi   |   18.11.22 : Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Thursday assured that the Supreme Court would examine a fresh plea challenging the collegium system of appointing and transferring judges of the apex court and high courts.

The CJI gave the assurance to advocate Mathews J. Nedumpara during the morning mentioning time when he sought urgent listing of a writ petition filed by him.

Under the collegium system, the Chief Justice of India and the two senior-most judges pick judges for the high courts and decide on their transfers.

In case of the appointment of Supreme Court judges and the chief justices of high courts, the collegium comprises of the Chief Justice of India and the four senior-most judges of the top court.

Sitting on a bench that included Justices Hima Kohli and J.B. Pardiwala, the CJI noted that a five-judge constitution bench had already upheld the collegium system in 2015 in the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) case.

When Nedumpura persisted with the plea, Justice Chandrachud assured that the matter would be listed “in due course”.

Nedumpura has sought a declaration that the collegium system had resulted “in the denial of equal opportunity for the petitioners and thousands of lawyers who are eligible, meritorious and who deserve to be considered”.

According to the petition, a mechanism to substitute the collegium is the need of the hour and the petitioner, along with several other advocates, “have made representations to the government”.