After Katju's allegations, govt to review collegium system of judges' selection

The NDA government is looking at reviewing the collegium system of judges’ selection following Justice Katju’s allegations against three former Chief Justices of India (CJIs), according to reports. Moreover, Katju also posed an additional list of six questions to former CJI RC Lahoti against whom he had made allegations. [caption id=“attachment_1628755” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Justice Markandey Katju had earlier alleged that three former CJIs had extended the tenure of a corrupt judge. PTI[/caption] News channels reported that the government called a meeting of eminent lawyers and former CJIs for consultation and further said that there is a need to revamp the process of selection of judges. The move comes after former SC judge Markandey Katju had written about how an additional Judge of the Madras High Court was given an extension thanks to political pressure, even though the judge in question was corrupt and there was an adverse IB report in his name. Justice Katju said that while the then Chief Justice of India RC Lahoti had initially called for an inquiry on the judge, he later gave into political pressure from the UPA and extended the term of that judge. According to Justice Katju, the judge was close to a political party that was an ally of UPA and when there were reports that the judge would be removed, the ally had threatened then PM Manmohan Singh that they would withdraw support from the UPA government, leading the panicked premier to ensure that his job would be safeguarded. While CJI Lahoti had merely allegedly extended the corrupt additional judge’s term by a year, his successor as CJI, YK Sabharwal, gave him a fresh term, and the man who succeeded him as CJI, KG Balakrishnan, made the judge’s appointment permanent and moved him to another state. So, in sum, going by Katju’s story, three CJIs were complicit in continuing, confirming and promoting an allegedly corrupt judge. In an interview to CNN-IBN, former Law Minister HK Bhardwaj agreed that there was pressure from UPA’s key ally, but asserted that the government did not give in to it, and had strictly followed procedure in granting an one-year extension to Justice Ashok Kumar. He told the channel, “The procedure was followed strictly. In the first hand, CJI had agreed with Justice Katju’s recommendation that the judge should not be made a permanent judge. But on the representation of DMK, and about 18 members of parliament of scheduled caste and backward class, this case was referred back to CJI, who agreed to extend his tenure pending inquiry. There was no favour, CJI of Madras did not favour him that is why he was not made permanent. In the inquiry it was found that he was close to political parties, later on he was transferred out.” The NDA government had on Monday sought the views of various political parties and eminent jurists to set up a Judicial Appointments Commission which seeks to scrap the present system of judges appointing judges. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said a Constitutional Amendment Bill to set up the proposed commission has lapsed following the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha and an accompanying bill is pending in Rajya Sabha. “The government is seeking the views of various political parties and eminent jurists on the proposal for setting up of a Judicial Appointments Commission,” he had said in a written reply. (With additional inputs from PTI)