Govt backs ex-CJI on selection of judges

Finding itself on the same page with the most vocal former chief justice of India JS Verma regarding revamping the judges’ selection process, Union law minister M Veerappa Moily has said a bill to that effect is being considered by a select committee of parliament.

Finding strength from the judicial quarter on leaving the prime minister out of the purview of the proposed Lokpal, Moily on Monday expressed complete agreement with the judge whose verdict in 1993 created the institution of ‘collegium’, a panel of five senior most judges, and stripped the executive of the power to appoint    judges to the Supreme Court and high courts. 

While Moily felt good that after a passage of time, justice Verma felt that the collegium system  “needs improvement”, the judge has told DNA that his ruling  has been misinterpreted all this time. During Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan’s term till May 2010, the government had several complaints of appointment of judges who had questionable antecedents.

That was when the collegium was led by CJI Balakrishnan. Attorney general Goolam E Vahavanati had also sent an opinion to the law ministry regarding streamlining the judges’ selection process.

Later, the government sent a letter to CJI Balakrishnan expressing its concern over the inappropriate selection of SC judges. It also felt that the 1993 judgment (Verma’s) categorically states that a person with questionable antecedents couldn’t be elevated to the apex court.