The Karnataka State Bar Council (KSBC) said the Union government should have moved the Supreme Court seeking review of the verdict that set aside the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) that was set up by amending the Constitution.
A.R. Patil, who was elected unopposed as KSBC chairman on Saturday, told media persons that in democratic countries like the U.S. and U.K. executives have a role in selection of judges, and a similar mechanism was proposed through the NJAC.
‘Serious lapses’
“Executives should have a say in the selection of persons to the posts of judges,” he said, while disagreeing with the apex court’s declaration that NJAC was “unconstitutional”.
Pointing at the apex court’s constitutional bench, which had delivered the verdict on NJAC, admitted “serious lapses” in the collegium system, Mr. Patil said the system had “failed” to bring “good judges” into the judicial system. The higher courts had “better judges” when the power of appointing judges was vested with the executives prior to introduction of collegium system, he said. Shidlingappa S. Mittalakod was elected KSBC vice-chairman.
