New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider listing a plea seeking abolition of the collegium system for the appointment of judges in the higher judiciary.
Advocate Mathews Nedumpara mentioned his plea before a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. The lawyer said his writ petition seeking abolition of the collegium system has not been listed for hearing and added, “I have mentioned it several times. The registry has rejected it and is not listing my petition”.
The bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said the registrar (listing) has said that once the constitution bench has ruled on something, then a petition under Article 32 petition is not maintainable. The CJI said there are other remedies against the registrar’s order.
The lawyer vehemently argued that the review petition against the NJAC judgement was dismissed in the chambers. The bench declined to entertain his contention. The lawyer said this is about the credibility of the institution and the collegium system has to go.
On October 17, 2015, a five-judge constitution bench, had termed as unconstitutional and set aside the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act and the 99th Constitutional Amendment which had sought to give the politicians and civil society a final say in the appointment of judges to the high courts and the Supreme Court.
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