Justice Rohinton Nariman proposes alternative for Collegium

Former Supreme Court judge Justice Rohinton Nariman recently proposed an alternative framework to the existing Collegium system for judicial appointments in India..Drawing from a letter penned by Justice HR Khanna to the Law Minister in 1980, Justice Nariman suggested the establishment of a panel consisting of the Chief Justice and four retired judges. This panel, he argued, would serve the interests of judicial independence.."But is there some other system which can be put in its place? Now, having thought a lot, I came to the conclusion, and I took this from a letter that Justice Khanna wrote in 1980 to the law minister, that why don't you have a panel of the Chief justice and three retired judges? According to me, if you have a panel of a Chief justice and say four retired judges and nobody else, it will subserve judicial independence," he said. .The retired judge was speaking at an event organised in Chennai on April 21 where retired judge Justice Akil Kureshi was conferred with the ‘SGS Award for Ethics in the Legal Profession.’.In his speech, Justice Nariman concurred with Justice Kureshi's assertion that the current system bears similarities to democracy albeit with inherent flaws. Justice Nariman, therefore, shared his vision for a more transparent process."We can perhaps better it, make it more transparent. Certainly better than the executive appointing," he said..He advocated for a selection process wherein practicing members of High Court bar and the Supreme Court bar nominate one or two judges from High Courts and about 20 judges from the Supreme Court based on their commitment to constitutional values."Now, practicing member would be a person who would...you can define it...who would have at least 100 filings, 150 filings, 200 filings in that particular court, together with arguing cases of the same number," he proposed..These nominations would form a pool of potential appointees. Subsequently, the entire Supreme Court roster, excluding the Chief Justice who would sit on the panel, would deliberate and vote to select the most qualified candidates. The top four vote recipients would then comprise the panel of retired judges, serving a fixed term of five years.Read about speech of Justice Akil Kureshi here. Read more about Justice Nariman's speech here.