14.8.14

Lok Sabha passes Judges Bill

Two bills that will effectively push the collegium system of appointing Supreme Court and high court judges into oblivion were passed by the Lok Sabha without any opposition after the government accepted the Congress's demand to drop a key provision of the bill. The Rajya Sabha is expected to clear the bills on Thursday before the monsoon session comes to an end.
The provision which was abandoned had stipulated that in case of the President (read government of the day) expressing reservations about a recommendation made by the Judicial Appointments Commission, a reiteration by the proposed body would have to be unanimous. The Congress had objected to it on the grounds that it could give the executive an upper hand in the appointment of judges to the SC and HCs, and compromise the judiciary's independence.
Within hours of its passage in the Lok Sabha, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad moved the twin bills in the Rajya Sabha after an hour-long debate over Parliament's competence to take up the legislations.
Deputy chairman P J Kurien even sought the opinion of former attorney general K Parasaran, who is a nominated member of the House, on the issue, after members expressed divergent views with some saying it ran the risk of being struck down by the court as “ultra vires“. Once passed by Rajya Sabha, the constitutional amendment bill will be sent to the states for ratification. It needs the approval of at least 15 states.
A Constitution amendment bill, which seeks to make any changes in articles relating to the SC and HCs, has to be ratified by legislatures of not less than half the states before it is presented to the President for assent.
Although no time-frame has been laid down for securing the ratification, government will like to meet the threshold fast, going by the way it swiftly moved to seek President Pranab Mukherjee's clearance to introduce the bill in Rajya Sabha after it sailed through Lok Sabha.
The NJAC bill earlier proposed that the President could send back the recommendation of the judges' selection panel back for reconsideration. But if the panel reiterated the recommendation “unanimously“, the President would have to go ahead with the appointment.
The official amendment, moved by Prasad, said that if the President returns the recommendation of the commission, the panel will not have to return it for reconsideration “unanimously“. If the recommendation is returned to the President without a unanimous recommendation, the candidate will have to be appointed.
Justifying the principle that the commission should not persist with the recommendation if two of the six members oppose it, Prasad said “one is a dissenter and two is a voice of reason“.I am not saying this,“ he said and referred to a 1998 Supreme Court judgment. “Normally , the collegium should make its recommendation on the basis of consensus but in case of difference of opinion, no one would be appointed if the CJI dissents. If two or more members of the collegium dissent, the CJI should not persist with the recommendation,“ the apex court had ruled.
Congress member and former law minister M Veerappa Moily , during the debate, had raised the issue and demanded dropping of the proposal. The opposition felt that under the original provision of unanimity , even one member could veto the commission's recommendation. The Constitution Amendment Bill was passed by 367 in favour and none against.
Other amendment clauses in the both bills too were passed unanimously .

Sources said the bills could be challenged in the court. The political class, however, showed that it was together in its opinion of scrapping the collegiums system by passing the bills in record time. Under the statute amendment bill, Chief Justice of India will head the NJAC. Besides the CJI, the judiciary would be represented by two senior judges of the SC. Two eminent personalities and the Law Minister will be the other members of the proposed body .

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