The Collegium system of appointing judges has not worked to the expectations and the government must have a say in such appointments, Law Minister Kapil Sibal has said as he prepares to move a Cabinet note to scrap the two-decades-old system.
He said he would "very soon" move a proposal in the Cabinet to replace the Collegium system with the Judicial Appointment Commission which will give a say to the Executive in the appointments of judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts.
"We do not think that the Collegium system has worked to our expectations. I don't think it even worked to the expectations of the judiciary," Sibal told PTI in an interview while justifying the need for scrapping the system.
Sibal, who took charge of the Law Ministry last month, said the objective of the government and the judiciary is to have the best people as judges who must be chosen with complete transparency and objectivity and there must be broadbased consultations.
"Just as judges have enormous stake in the appointment of judicial officers in the higher judiciary (Supreme Court and the 24 High Courts), the government has an equal stake. Since both of us have stakes in the appointment of members of the higher judiciary, the consultation of both of them is absolutely necessary. Government must have a say," he emphasised.
Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir recently strongly defended the Collegium system, saying appointments to the higher judiciary are made after "intense deliberations".
When referred to the judiciary's objections to changing the system, the Law Minister said, "We know the views (of the judiciary). We will take that into account. Again, laws must be acceptable by and large to the stakeholders, that includes the judiciary, it includes the executive, it includes all the players in the field of dispensation of justice," he said.
