Newsmaker: Justice Jasti Chelameswar's free spirit

Dissenting with his brethren on the collegium issue, he wrote that the system has become "a euphemism for nepotism" where "mediocrity or even less" is promoted

Though nine judges of the Supreme Court sitting in three separate benches were involved in the sordid drama, which ended this week, Justice Jasti Chelameswar, 64, was the key figure on all counts. This is the second time in two years that he has hit the headlines on highly sensitive issues. Earlier, he wrote the lone dissenting judgment opposing the collegium system of selecting judges of the Supreme Court and high courts. Later, he declined to attend the collegium meetings alleging that it was not functioning in a transparent manner.

While the controversy over the collegium system is still simmering, Chelameswar