Times
of India: New Delhi: Monday, 04 January 2016.
In the
memorandum of procedure that would guide the apex court collegium in
appointment of judges to the higher judiciary, the government is likely to
mention that any dissent note within the collegium should be mandatorily shared
with the executive.
The law
ministry is currently engaged in preparation of the memorandum of procedure
(MoP), which will be finalised in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.
For another set of MoP for high courts, a consultation process has been
initiated with the chief justices of HCs and chief ministers.
A first draft
of the MoP has been prepared by the ministry after preliminary round of
discussions with the attorney general and top officials of the Prime Minister's
Office.
The
government is, however, hesitant in putting down some of the
transparency-related guidelines in the MoP without prior approval of the CJI to
avoid confrontation. Earlier, in its suggestions given to the apex court, the
government had favoured making proceedings of the collegium system subject to
the RTI Act.
The
government will hand over the final draft of the MoP to the CJI in the coming
days after a meeting of law minister Sadananda Gowda with the CJI. The minister
has sought an appointment with the CJI this week.
"If one
of the members of the collegium gives a dissent, it should be attached along
with the recommendation of the collegium so that the President, who appoints
judges, is aware of it," said a senior law ministry official.
The government
is working on the two MoPs one dealing with appointment of CJI and judges of
the Supreme Court and the other dealing with appointment of chief justices and
other judges of high courts.
The draft MoP
for appointment of members to the higher judiciary is being prepared after the
Supreme Court struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC)
Act recently. While deciding on ways to improve the collegium system, the apex
court had left it to the law ministry to draft the MoP in consultation with the
CJI and CMs and chief justices of the 24 high courts.
The four
issues highlighted by the draft MoP are transparency in the appointment
process, eligibility criteria, a permanent secretariat for the collegium and a
process to evaluate and deal with complaints against candidates.
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