SC refuses to reopen verdicts which created collegium system

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has refused to reopen its two earlier rulings which created and institutionalised the collegium system of appointing judges to superior courts. A nine-judge bench on Wednesday issued an order to this effect.

“We are satisfied that no case for review of the impugned judgment has been made out,” said the bench led by chief justice Ranjan Gogoi. After the court struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, a PIL filed in 2015 had sought a detailed hearing by a 13-judge bench on it in open court. It would have required a reconsideration of the 1981 and 1993 verdicts which created and institutionalised the collegium system.

The government had said that it deserved an equal say over those appointed to the top court and high courts if not a superior say. Under the collegium system, the top court’s five senior-most judges have overwhelming say on who can be appointed a judge. The government can send back names for reconsideration, but should the collegium reiterate its recommendation(s) the government is bound to accept the decision. In practice, however, there have been instances when the Centre sat on collegium reiterations and initial recommendations and in effect stalled the appointments. The Constitution Bench which on Wednesday rejected the PIL included CJI designate SA Bobde, Justices NV Ramana, Arun Mishra, RF Nariman, R Banumathi, UU Lalit, AM Khanwilkar and Ashok Bhushan. The litigant had earlier challenged the court decision to strike down NJAC Act which wanted the collegium to be replaced by a broad-based body where the executive had a bigger say.