| NEW DELHI: The parliamentary standing committee on law has recommended giving constitutional status to the proposed Judicial Appointments Commission for appointments to the higher judiciary.
The standing committee submitted its recommendations to Parliament on Monday on the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) Bill which was referred to it after the monsoon session. The bill also seeks to scrap the present collegium system under which judges appoint judges.
During the monsoon session, Rajya Sabha had passed the JAC Bill separately with the constitutional amendment bill which had JAC just as an enabling provision. The two bills were not tabled in Lok Sabha after the BJP opposed them on the ground that the composition of the JAC should be part of the main constitution amendment bill so that it could not be altered through an ordinary legislation in future.
The parliamentary panel recommended that a separate state-level JAC be formed to appoint and transfer judges of the 24 high courts. It said state-level commissions comprising the chief minister of the state concerned, the chief justice of the high court concerned and the leader of opposition of the state assembly would lessen the burden of the main commission.
The standing committee also recommended that eligible members of the Bar should be given an opportunity to be considered for appointment as judges of the high courts through advertisements as is the practice in countries like the UK.
The government was averse to the composition of the JAC to be part of the main constitution amendment bill and had expressed its views to the standing committee.
At present, the composition of the proposed panel is defined in the JAC Bill, 2013 which says it will be headed by the Chief Justice of India and will have as members two judges from the SC, the law minister and two eminent citizens -- to be selected by a panel comprising the prime minister, CJI and leader of opposition in Lok Sabha. Secretary (justice) in the law ministry will be the convener of the JAC.
The parliamentary panel has also recommended that it should be made a seven-member body by having three eminent citizens instead of two. Sources said odd numbers would avoid a possible deadlock in case of a tie while taking a decision.
It said one of the three eminent members should either be a woman or a member from the minority community or SC/ST by rotation. |