NDA seeking views of parties on Judicial Commission

NEW DELHI: The NDA government is seeking the views of various political parties and eminent jurists to set up a Judicial Appointments Commission which seeks to scrap the present system of judges appointing judges, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said a Constitutional Amendment Bill to set up the proposed commission has lapsed following the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha and an accompanying bill is pending in the Rajya Sabha.

"The government is seeking the views of various political parties and eminent jurists on the proposal for setting up of a Judicial Appointments Commission," he said in a written reply.

An earlier effort by the NDA government to replace the collegium system in 2003 did not succeed.

The then NDA government had introduced a Constitution amendment bill but the Lok Sabha was dissolved when the bill was before a Standing Committee. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was the Law Minister then.

Parliamentary nod to the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill had eluded the UPA government despite it agreeing to the demands by jurists and BJP to grant constitutional status to a proposed commission for appointment and transfer of judges to the higher judiciary to ensure that its composition cannot be altered through an ordinary legislation.

According to the UPA bill, while new Article 124 A of the Constitution will define the composition of JAC, Article 124 B will define its functions.