Justice In The Hands of Collegium System?
Introduction: “ It is not just the government that has a veto; the judiciary too has it ”, the statement by former Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud. In a similar vein, " I am now appealing to you to establish a suo moto bench of 11 judges of the Supreme Court to reconsider the verdicts from the Second and Third Judges' cases” , former Supreme Court judge, Markandey Katju urged in his letter to Chief Justice of India, B. R. Gavai, highlighting the weaknesses in the Collegium system of Judiciary. These statements reflect the long lasting debate about the process of judges appointing judges in the judiciary system of India. An overview: The Collegium system in India is the process by which judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts are appointed and transferred in the higher judiciary, the Supreme Court collegium is headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and includes the four senior-most judges of the court. The High Court collegium is led by the respective Chief Jus...