New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider listing a petition against the Collegium system of appointment of judges to the apex court and high courts, days after Union Law and Justice minister Kiren Rijiju said people were not happy with the practice of judges appointing judges.
The matter was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud.
The petition sought the revival of the National Judicial Appointments Commission or NJAC, which briefly gave the government an equal role along with the judiciary in the appointment of judges to the constitutional courts before it was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015.
Advocate Mathews J Nedumpara, who mentioned the matter, referred to the 2015 verdict of the apex court which had struck down the NJAC Act and the Constitution (99th Amendment) Act, 2014, leading to the revival of the Collegium system of existing judges appointing judges to constitutional courts.
The bench, also comprising Justices Hima Kohli and J B Pardiwala, assured the counsel it will consider the request in due course after perusing the petition.
The plea has said the Collegium system of appointment of judges has resulted in the denial of equal opportunity to thousands of lawyers who are eligible, meritorious and deserve to be considered.
The NJAC Act, 2014 would have accorded a major role to the executive in appointing judges to the higher judiciary.
The apex court had on October 16, 2015 struck down the ambitious NJAC Act, 2014 which had sought to replace the 22-year-old Collegium system of judges appointing judges.
Last month, Union Law and Justice minister Kiren Rijiju had said the people of the country are not happy with the Collegium system and, according to the spirit of the Constitution, it is the government's job to appoint judges.
On November 13, former Chief Justice of India U U Lalit had, however, said there is nothing wrong with the Collegium system.
"The Collegium system is here to stay and it is an established norm where judges choose judges," he had said, adding the fundamentals of the system can be fine-tuned.