What is the issue?
- Supreme Court has laid down guidelines for designating lawyers in the Supreme Court and High Courts as senior advocates.
- SC’s senior advocate guidelines can be used to guide collegium in judges’ selection too.
What is the new process?
- Previously, the judges of the SC and HC had the sole discretion of according this status to advocates.
- Now, applications will be vetted by a permanent committee known as the Committee for Designation of Senior Advocates.
- Members - It will have 5 members and a permanaent secretariat.
- The committee will consist of the Cheif Justic of India, two senior-most judges of the SC/HC, ‘Attorney General of India’ or ‘Advocate General of State’.
- Additionally a person from the Bar will be nominated by the above mentioned members as a 5th member.
- Assessment - The committee will compile all the relevant candidate information and examine his case.
- It with regard to the reputation, conduct, integrity, free legal work, judgments in cases for which the advocate has appeared etc...
- The committee will examine each candidate’s case, interview the candidate, and make its evaluation.
- This system is transparent and objective, and provides equal opportunity to all candidates.
- Cons - There is a proposal to publish names online for inviting complaints & suggestions ensuring better transparency.
- This may find some opposition with regard to privacy.
- There have also been reports of motivated complaints & objections.
- The secretariat might be dragged into the dilemma of investigating frivolous complaints or objections.
Can this be considered for Judicial Appointments?
- Currently appointments to the higher judiciary is through a non-transaparent collegiums system.
- The institutional mechanism for conferring senior Advocate status also seems suited to substitute the existing collegium system.
- Hence, the sooner the judiciary adopts such a mechanism for judges too, the better it is for the institution.
What is the current scenario in Judical Appoinments?
- Political interference in the selection of judges in the 1970s, forced the evolution of collegium system.
- However, the opaqueness and unsatisfactory selection, transfer, and elevation of judges to the Supreme Court caused friction.
- This led to the passing of the Constitution (99th Amendment) Act, 2014 that called for the establishment of National Judicial Appointments Commission - NJAC.
- NJAC sought to give politicians and civil society a final say in the appointment of judges to the highest courts.
- In 2015, a Constitution Bench of the SC declared NJAC unconstitutional on the ground that it interefered with judicial independence.
Source: The Hindu