New Delhi, April 11
Eminent lawyers Ram
Jethmalani and Anil Diwan on Saturday opposed the new system for senior
judges' appointments, contending respectively that government as the
biggest litigant could not take this role, and affect the judiciary's
independence but senior counsel T.R. Andhyarujina pitched for giving the
NJAC a chance.
"We must have a system of appointment of judges
where a litigant has no voice in the appointment of judges," Jethmalani
said at a seminar here, as he assailed the presence of the union law
minister as one of the six members of the National Judicial Appointment
Commission.
Contending the litigant goes to the court against
corrupt and illegal actions of the executive, Jethmalani said:
"Therefore, process for the appointment of judge should be such that it
should not create a slightest impression of prejudice in the mind of the
litigants."
In his keynote address at the seminar organized by
the Res Publican Law Society, on "The National Judicial Appointment
Commission Act, 2014", Jethmalani said that there must be complete
respect and distance between judges and the litigant.
He
expressed an apprehension that the law minister's presence could result
in a situation of quid pro quo in the selection of judges for
appointment to higher judiciary.
"Corrupt politicians always want
corrupt judiciary," Jethmalani said making an impassioned plea to keep
executive off in the appointment of judges.
Parliament in 2014
had amended the constitution to replace the collegium system of
appointment of judges by the National Judicial Appointment Commission.
The National Judicial Appointment Commission Act, 2014 had also been
passed in August 2014.A
Contending that the law minster had no
role in the NJAC, Jethmalani said that instead an eminent jurist should
be there to represent the legal fraternity and one from the academic
world. He described as "vote bank politics" the provision for the
representative of the scheduled caste/tribes, weaker sections and
minorities in the NJAC.
Opposing the NJAC, Diwan, another eminent
jurist, said that the panel would be dependent on the government for
all its activities which may result in coloured or doctored dossiers
being placed before the commission of the people to be considered for
selection and appointment of judges.
Expressing serious
apprehension on the NJAC's working, he said that there was every
possibility of the government creating an adverse dossier of a potential
candidate to thwart his selection.
Besides other things that
count for ensuring the independence of judiciary, Divan said that the
appointment of judges with independent inclination has to be safeguarded
at the entry point itself.
However, batting for NJAC,
Andhyarujina assailed the collegium system saying nowhere in the world
did such a situation exist where judges will decide on appointments.
In a situation where there was a total lack of credibility in the collegium system, parliament had to step in, he said.
Urging that NJAC should be operationalised, Andhyarujina said: "Why do you condemn a system without giving it a chance."
