JUSTICE SANJIV KHANNA TO BE NEXT CJI: HOW IS CJI APPOINTED?
The Centre on October 24 appointed Justice Sanjiv Khanna as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI), formally approving the recommendation made by CJI D Y Chandrachud.
He will hold the post for a little over six months until his retirement on May 13, 2025.
CJI Chandrachud’s two-year term is among the longest in recent years. (9 November 2022 to 11 November 2024)
TENURE OF PREVIOUS 15 CJIs
PROCEDURE FOR APPOINTMENT
The appointment of the CJI and judges of the apex court is governed by a Memorandum of Procedure. The CJI and the judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President under clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution.
CJI appointment: The appointment to the office of the CJI should be of the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court considered fit to hold the office.
The Union Law Minister seeks the recommendation of the outgoing CJI on his successor.
Once the CJI recommends, the Law Minister forwards the communication to the Prime Minister who would advise the President on the appointment.
HOW ARE OTHER JUDGES OF SC APPOINTED?
The appointment is done on the recommendations of a collegium.
ABOUT THE COLLEGIUM SYSTEM:
It is a system under which appointments and transfers of judges are decided by a forum of the Chief Justice of India and the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court.
IS IT CONSTITUTIONAL?
It has no place in the Indian Constitution. The basic tenet behind the collegium system is that the judiciary should have primacy over the government in matters of appointments
and transfers in order to remain independent.
BACKGROUND:
The collegium system was born out of years of friction between the judiciary and the executive that was accentuated by instances of court-packing (the practice of changing the composition of judges in a court), mass transfer of high court judges and two supersessions to the office of the CJI in the 1970s. (Justice AN Ray & Justice MH Beg)
EVOLUTION OF COLLEGIUM SYSTEM:
The collegium system has its genesis in a series of three judgments as follows:
First Judges case (S P Gupta case 1981): “Primacy” of the CJI’s recommendation on judicial appointments and transfers can be refused for “cogent reasons.” The ruling gave the Executive primacy over the Judiciary in judicial appointments.(For the next 12 years)
Second Judges case, 1993: It introduced collegium system. It ruled that the CJI would have to consult a collegium of his two senior-most judges in the apex court on judicial appointments and such a “collective opinion” of the collegium would have primacy over the government/executive.
Third Judges case, 1998: SC on Presidential reference under Article 143, expanded the judicial collegium to its present composition of the CJI and 4 of his senior-most judges.
SC Judge appointment: When a vacancy is expected to arise in the apex court, the collegium recommends a candidate/s to the Union Law Minister.
The CJI consults the rest of the Collegium members, as well as the senior-most judge of the High Court to which the recommended person belongs.
After the receipt of the Collegium recommendation, the Law Minister would forward it to the Prime Minister, who would advise the President in the matter of appointment.
CRITICISMS OF COLLEGIUM SYSTEM
- INSUFFICIENT BACKGROUND CHECKS.
- NON FORMAL & OPAQUE.
- OVERLOOKS TALENT POOL.
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