Government’s Big Break. Congress to Back Proposal for Selecting Judges

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Aug 12, 2014:  How judges are promoted or transferred in India is set to change dramatically - the opposition Congress has decided to support the government’s proposal, which means that the plan will clear both houses of Parliament with ease.

Judges are currently appointed by a collegium, the Supreme Court’s top five judges, headed by the Chief Justice of India.

The Congress said this morning that it will back the new proposal which asks for judges to be appointed by a committee of six members: the Chief Justice of India, the Law Minister, two senior Supreme Court judges, and two eminent personalities.

The two eminent Indians are to be chosen by a group that is headed by the Prime Minister and includes the leader of the largest opposition party - the Congress.

The current Parliament session is meant to end on Thursday, but the government is keen to extend it to allow for a discussion and vote on the new proposal for judges. (Read)

The plan to rework how judges are chosen comes as allegations of corruption have besmirched the judiciary. Yesterday, the Chief Justice of India, RM Lodha, defended the existing collegium system. "If you say the collegium has failed, then everybody has failed. All the judges today were appointed by the collegium," he said. (Rift Between Centre, Supreme Court Over Justice Manjunath’s Transfer)

The Congress’ cooperation will be welcomed by the government as a break from recent tradition. The Congress blocked the government’s attempt to introduce a key reform - the Insurance Bill - in this session of Parliament. The call to increase foreign participation in the still-small insurance sector from 26% to 49% was seen as a primary part of the Prime Minister’s initiative to revive economic growth, which fell last year to 4.7%, the slowest in a decade. (Once-Bitten Modi Government Plays Safe, Attempts Consensus on Key Bill)

The ruling BJP faces no problem in winning approval for its plans from the lower house or Lok Sabha, where it has a comfortable majority. But the upper house is the stumbling block. The BJP and its allies have about 60 lawmakers in the 245-member Rajya Sabha. The Congress has 68 MPs in the Upper House and can prove to be a difficult opposition by aligning with other parties.

 

Courtesy:NDTV