The Former Justice of Supreme Court Jasti Chelameswar said that the Collegium system for the appointment of judges was drawn by the Apex Court while keeping in mind the best interest of the country but corruption starts creeping in, with power.
Justice Chelameswar was called in for delivering the inaugural address at the National seminar on the topic of “Is Collegium Alien To The Constitution”, which was organised by the Bharatheeya Abhibhashaka Parishad Kerala at the Kerala High Court.
The former justice added that the collegium system was merely a name given to an existing system of selecting judges, while it was the Second Judges Case which only formalized this system.
Justice Chelameswar said that the Second Judges Case was an attempt to impose discipline on the selection process of judges.
The justice said that the judges who wrote this judgment only wanted the best for the country. But unfortunately power tends to corrupt.
The former justice also said that abusing power is corruption on the system. Whether it is legislative executive or judicial power, power is power. In this process collegium system created a lot of problems which he had put on record in NJAC judgement.
The former justice also referred to his dissenting judgment in the NJAC case in which he had upheld NJAC which sought to replace the Collegium system.
While referring to a book authored by Dr. Abhinav Chandrachud, where he has discussed a Madhya Pradesh High Court judge whose elevation was recommended thrice but not accepted by the government, Justice Chelameswar said that it was for the same reason that a collegium system was established.
The former judge also mentioned that recently an eminent personality argued that the Constitution does not contain the word “collegium” and therefore, the collegium system is illegal, is not correct.
Citing the same, the justice asked that is there anything in the constitution which says freedom of press ? If this argument is accepted all such things, including freedom of press, can go.
He argued that freedom of press is not mentioned in the Constitution either but is still guaranteed under it.
He was likely referring to the Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, who in November 2022, had said that the word “collegium” was alien to the Indian Constitution.
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