Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi today said that inviting public opinions and suggestions will not improve the collegium system and appeared undeterred by the verdict holding as unconstitutional the NJAC Act saying Parliament has the power to change it.
"The court seems to feel that something good may come out of it. The attempt is in a right direction but it is going round and round. At the end of the day it will not fetch what it is supposed to. The Parliament has the power to change the current verdict," he told Karan Thapar on India Today channel.
Rohatgi was also of the opinion that posts of judges should not be kept vacant till the time an outcome is reached on the issue of improving the system which is being debated in the Supreme Court, as doing so was "criminal".
"We have 38 per cent vacancies in high courts. It is criminal not to fill up the posts as a person languishing in jail is losing six months in one go because you don't have a judge," he said.
He was responding to questions including whether there was a need to wait for appointment of judges till the time the apex court clears the air on the issue of improvement and bringing more transparency in the collegium system.
Asked if NJAC Act that has been struck down can be amended to make it acceptable to the Supreme Court, Rohatgi said "undoubtedly yes".
"It is the power of Parliament to do this," the top law officer said.
