National Judicial Commission will be set up through Constitutional amendment, says Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has stated that the Central government will amend the Constitution to set up the National Judicial Commission for appointment of judges. He said this on a television show “Aap Ki Adaalat” which is telecast on India TV..Expressing reservations about the Collegium system, Prasad said that,.“We want to bring the National Judicial Commission in which both the judiciary and executive will be present, but the judiciary will have an upper hand. We will bring the Constitutional amendment bill in an objective manner. The previous government had brought the bill, but there were infirmities in it, and it lapsed.”.When quizzed on whether the government is attempting to control the judiciary, Prasad replied:.“Never! We were among those who went to jail during the JP movement, and had opposed Emergency. We want the judiciary to be independent. There has been considerable debate over the National Judicial Commission, and several eminent former judges feel that the present SC collegium system should change.”.Regarding the Gopal Subramanium controversy, Prasad maintained that the government had the right to give its opinion as per the verdict of the Supreme Court and that the opinion in Subramanium’s case was given “based on facts, evidences and reasons”..Prasad also said that the number of High Court judges would be increased by twenty percent and that the government will not interfere with the number of working days of the Supreme Court and High Courts which he maintained is for the Full Bench of the Supreme Court to decide. He also said that the government was planning to dispose “cheque bounce” cases and “traffic challan” cases through Lok Adalats..Image taken from here.