Supreme Court dismisses 'premature' petitions challenging National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill

The Supreme Court today dismissed several petitions that challenged the constitutional validity of the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill.

Dismissing the pleas as premature, the apex court bench of Justice AR Dave, Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice AK Sikri said that parties can move the court at an appropriate time.

According to Supreme Court lawyer R N Kapoor, "This cannot be agitated at this stage because the issue would be premature and may be tomorrow the ratification by majority of the state is not given or may be tomorrow the consent by the president is not given and therefore till the amendment gets into the constitution or the ratification by the states and the consent is given by the president till that stage the amendment or the bill cannot be challenged". The NJAC was passed by parliament to replace the existing collegium system for the appointment of judges.

Four PILs have been filed in the apex court for declaring the NJAC move as unconstitutional.

The petitions were also filed by Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record (AoR) Association and former Additional Solicitor General Bishwajit Bhattacharyya, seek a quashing of the Constitutional Amendment Bill on the ground that it severely affects and damages the basic structure of the Constitution.

Earlier this month, parliament passed two bills to scrap the collegium system for appointments in higher judiciary and to provide a new mechanism in its place.

ALSO READ: 7 key highlights of the Judicial Appointment Commission Bill