What is the Supreme Court Collegium system?

What is a Collegium?

It is a group of Chief Justice of India or CJI and the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court that decides appointments to the apex court. These appointments could be in the form of elevation, when High Court judges are appointed to the Supreme Court or direct appointments when experienced lawyers may be directly appointed as apex court judges.

High Courts too have a collegium. They are headed by the chief justice of the court. The next two senior-most judges are part of the HC collegium. However, the HC collegium only makes recommendations for appointments to HC. The final decisions are taken by a collegium of the CJI and two senior-most judges of the SC.

This collegium of the three senior-most SC judges also decides transfers of HC judges in the country.

What does the Constitution say?

Under Article 124, the appointment of Supreme Court judges should be made by the President after consultation with such judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court as the President may deem necessary. The CJI is to be consulted in all appointments except his or her own.

Topsy-turvy land of judicial appointments

After the 1981 SP Gupta case, also called the "First Judges case", it was suggested that the executive must have the biggest say in judicial appointments.

12 years later, in 1993, a nine-judge bench in the "Second Judges case" said that the CJI must be given priority in such appointments. This was reinstated in the Third Judges case in 1998. Since then, the judges are appointed by the collegium system.

What does the government say?

The central government has not been a supporter of the collegium system. According to the government, the current system is not transparent and can be blamed for the high number of vacancies in the judiciary.

It has also come under fire for not being representative enough. Women, Dalits and STs are underrepresented in the higher judiciary in India.

In 2014, NDA government had brought National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act to accord a major role to the executive in appointing judges to the higher judiciary. But it was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015.