Guwahati: The Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud (CJI) has received a letter from Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju in which he expresses his dissatisfaction with the Collegium method of selecting judges and his support for the reinstatement of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC).
While speaking to ANI on Monday, Rijiju said, “It is just a follow-up action of the letters written earlier to CJI following the direction of the Supreme Court Constitution Bench while striking down the National Judicial Appointment Commission Act. The SC Constitution Bench had directed to restructure the MoP of the collegium system.”
The law minister also took to Twitter earlier today to post, “The contents in the letter to hon’ble CJI are exactly in conformity with the observations and directions of the Supreme Court Constitution Bench. Convenient politics is not advisable, especially in the name of Judiciary. Constitution of India is supreme and nobody is above it.”
In his letter to the Chief Justice, Rijiju argued in favour of the Supreme Court’s admission of government officials.
The Center claims that by doing this, the court’s selection of judges will be made more transparent and accountable to the general people.
The Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for the collegium system was to be restructured, as ordered by the Supreme Court Constitution Bench.
The process for choosing judges for the High Courts and the Supreme Court is outlined in the MoP.
The Chief Justice of India and the four senior-most Supreme Court judges suggest judges for appointments and transfers under the current Collegium system. The current collegium of the Supreme Court includes Chief Justice Chandrachud, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, KM Joseph, MR Shah, Ajay Rastogi, and Sanjiv Khanna.