Government introduces Constitution amendment bill in Lok Sabha for formation of judicial appointments

NEW DELHI: The government has introduced a Constitution amendment bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday for the formation of a judicial appointments commission. Prior to this, the government withdrew the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill introduced by the UPA government in the Rajya Sabha.

The new bill seeks to alter the present collegium system of appointing and transferring judges to the Supreme Court and high courts across the country. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad withdrew the earlier bill as the NDA government was not in agreement with some of its key provisions, most significant of which was that it did not incorporate the composition and functions of the proposed judicial commission as part of the amendment to the Constitution.

The bill will taken up by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, where the House is likely to send it to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice for elaborate discussions and inviting suggestions. Congress opposed the government in Parliament on the issue.

Deputy Leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma, later told reporters his party was not opposed to a judicial appointments commission but would make its stand clear on the bill only after going through its contents.