The Central Secretariat of Communist Party of India (CPI) has observed that the refusal of the role of democracy by the Supreme Court in the selection of judges is not proper.
A statement issued by national secretary of the party K. Narayana here on Saturday said the system of collegium for selecting judges was not transparent and there was no accountability to such an arrangement. The records of such process were absolutely beyond the reach of even judicial experts, lest citizens of the country.
He pointed out that the 99{+t}{+h}Amendment to the Constitution made in 2014 had established the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) for selection of members for higher judiciary.
The commission was necessitated in the background of upholding democratic values. Besides, shortcoming in the system of selection through collegium had glaringly appeared in the case of certain judges in the recent period, he noted.
As the system of collegium could not be held accountable, the need of the hour was that the judiciary should be ensured of clean hands to create more confidence among the seekers of justice.
The law of jurisprudence would clearly emphasise that “justice seekers must approach the seat of justice with clean hands, which implies that it applies to justice givers as well”.
Instead of the non-transparent collegium system, the NJAC had come into the arena with the adoption of the 99{+t}{+h}amendment to the Constitution unanimously in both the Houses of Parliament and 20 State Legislatures also ratified the amendment, Dr. Narayana stated. Veto powers given to two members were an arrangement to cross-check on nepotism and favouritism in judicial appointments in the new system.
System of collegium for selecting judges not transparent and there is no accountability,
says K. Narayana
