‘Judges’ appointment should be criteria-based, transparent’

A number of eminent people representing a cross section of society on Tuesday advocated a criteria-based and transparent process in selecting judges for higher judiciary in which civil society too should have a presence.

Making the judicial appointment criteria-based, transparent and accountable, several eminent people that included apex court lawyer Kamini Jaiswal, co-founder of Association for Democratic Rights Jagdeep Chhokar, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative director Maja Daruwala and others said it should be a process that people know about.

Participating in a seminar organised by the NGO Common Cause on “Collegium Reforms: the Way Ahead”, they said judiciary may not be within the purview of the Right to Informatioin Act, but it should be a process that people know about. 

Welcoming the Supreme Court’s call to people to give their inputs to improve the working of the collegium system, Kamini Jaiswal said a lawyer should not be made the judge of a high court where he has been practising, as it may create a situation of conflict of interest. “A lawyer practising in a high court ought not to be appointed as a judge of that high court ...even if they try to arise above personal consideration (arising from their familiarity with the lawyers, with whom they had shared chambers)... yet he is a human being. So many are not above board.”

Nikhil Dey of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information advocated some form of open hearing not necessarily akin to hearing by the Senate in US that takes place before important appointments, including judicial, are made.

A participant suggested that these hearing which can be conducted by the collegium should be videographed and be made available to public after three years. It will reveal the questions that the members of the collegium had asked the candidate aspiring to be the judge.