NATIONAL JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS COMMISSION (NJAC)

NATIONAL JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS COMMISSION (NJAC)

IN NEWS –

• Questioning the basis of the Supreme Court judgement that quashed the National Judicial Appointments Commission, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has wondered why the prime minister cannot be trusted with appointing fair judges.
• On 16 October 2015, in a 4-1 majority verdict, the Supreme Court held that both the Constitution (Ninety-ninth Amendment) Act, 2014, and the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014, were unconstitutional as it would undermine the independence of the judiciary.
• The majority said the two laws affect the independence of the judiciary, and judicial appointments, among other things, should be protected from executive control.

ABOUT NJAC

• NJAC is a body responsible for the appointment and transfer of judges to the higher judiciary in India.
• NJAC Bill sought to replace the collegium system of appointing the judges of Supreme Court and High Courts with judicial appointments commission wherein the executive will have a say in appointing the judges.
• A new article, Article 124A, (which provides for the composition of the NJAC) was to be inserted into the Constitution.
• The Bill provided for the procedure to be followed by the NJAC for recommending persons for appointment as Chief Justice of India and other Judges of the Supreme Court (SC), and Chief Justice and other Judges of High Courts (HC).

COMPOSITION OF NJAC

1. Chief Justice of India (Chairperson, ex officio)
2. Two other senior judges of the Supreme Court next to the Chief Justice of India – ex officio
3. The Union Minister of Law and Justice, ex-officio
4. Two eminent persons (to be nominated by a committee consisting of the Chief Justice of India, Prime Minister of India and the Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha or where there is no such Leader of Opposition, then, the Leader of single largest Opposition Party in Lok Sabha), provided that of the two eminent persons, one person would be from the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes or OBC or minority communities or a woman. The eminent persons shall be nominated for a period of three years and shall not be eligible for re-nomination.

ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF NJAC

• According to the proponents, the enactment of the 99th Amendment was intended at redressing the imbalance created by the verdict of court in second judges case.
• For them, NJAC would have been a more broad-minded forum, providing a genuine chance to participate and influence the selection of our higher judiciary to not only the Supreme Court and the executive but also the laypersons (eminent jurists) outside the constitutional framework.

GROUNDS ON WHICH NJAC WAS STRUCK DOWN BY SC

• The court has held that the appointment of judges, coupled with primacy of judiciary and the CJI, was part of the basic structure of the Constitution and that the parliament, through NJAC act, violated this basic structure.