Curtail power of judges to appoint peers: CPM

NEW DELHI: The CPM has come out strongly against the power of judges to appoint their peers. Seeking a role for the executive, legislature, public and the judiciary in the recruitment, the Left party said the present method could lead to the appointment of judges who hold similar ideological and philosophical positions.

“It may also lead to the friends and relatives of the collegium or judges sneaking into the panel and the emergence of a coterie in judges’ appointments. The present system is incapable of appropriately addressing the diversities in India, is not open to public scrutiny and lacks accountability and transparency,” CPM politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai said in an article in the party mouthpiece People’s Democracy released on Sunday.

The CPM, which has been at loggerheads with the judiciary, has also cited procedures in countries like the US, Germany and the UK, where the executive, legislature and judiciary performed “meaningful roles”. It said India was perhaps the only country where judges were appointed by other judges.

In India, the executive had a role in the appointment of judges until 1993 when the Supreme Court Advocates on Records Association filed a public interest litigation before the Supreme Court on the issue of appointment of judges. The nine-judge bench, with a majority of seven, then took over the power of appointing judges and held that the recommendation should be made by the Chief Justice of India in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues.

The CPM also wants a change in the impeachment proceedings to punish an errant judge. The party said 57 years of experience has shown that the current method was “impractical”. The initiation of an impeachment procedure requires support of 50 Rajya Sabha members and 100 Lok Sabha members. Each house has to take a decision supported by the total membership and a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members voting.

Alleging that forces of globalisation were increasingly trying to make use of the judiciary to implement their agenda, Mr Pillai said: “Some judgements show intolerance for mass struggles. And some judgements ignore the interests of the common people by their complete surrender to the globalisation philosophy.”

The CPM, which has been alleging that the judiciary was trying to usurp the powers of the executive and legislature, has demanded immediate constitution of a National Judicial Commission with representatives from all three pillars of democracy. The party also sought a change in the law on contempt of court and system of trial saying it was inherited from the British “feudal” system.