‘It’s here to stay’: Former CJI UU Lalit defends Collegium system
Satya Prakash
New Delhi, November 13
Amid criticism of the Collegium system of appointing judges, former CJI UU Lalit on Sunday defended it as ‘the best’ and said it’s here to stay.
“In my opinion the Collegium system is the best system it has proved to have worked effectively,” Justice Lalit, who demitted office as the 49th CJI on November 8, said.
Talking to reporters at his residence this evening, he however, said Parliament was free to enact a law like the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) once again, if it wished to.
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had recently criticised the Collegium system for being opaque. “No system can be 100 per cent perfect. But we need to strive for a better system. When Parliament passed the NJAC in 2015, the Supreme Court struck it down. They (SC) should have told us which system would be better,” Rijiju had said.
Terming the Law Minister’s comments as his “personal opinion”, Justice Lalit asserted, “The collegium system has got the approval of five judges’ Bench of the Supreme Court.”
Noting that re-introducing NJAC would require a constitutional amendment and was the government’s prerogative to do so, Justice Lalit said so long as that didn’t happen, the judiciary has to follow the norms for judicial appointment set by the Supreme Court in its Constitution Bench verdicts.
The former CJI’s comments came two days after a Bench led by Justice SK Kaul took serious objection to the Centre sitting over the recommendations made by the Collegium for judicial appointments.
Justice Lalit also disapproved of former CJI Ranjan Gogoi accepting nomination to the Rajya Sabha.
“To my mind, having held the position as Chief Justice of the country, perhaps, I think the position as a nominee Member of Rajya Sabha is not the correct idea or as a Governor of a state is again not a correct idea,” Justice Lalit told NDTV.
However, he said he won’t mind taking over as the National Human Rights Commission Chairman, Lokpal, and Law Commission Chairman.
He brushed aside the criticism over the listing of State of Maharashtra’s appeal against acquittal of GN Saibaba—accused of Maoist link—before the Supreme Court on October 15 (Saturday), saying there was nothing unusual about it.
The former CJI also defended the top court’s verdict setting aside the death sentence awarded to three accused for the gang rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman in Delhi’s Chhawla area 10 years ago.
“The three men got the death penalty on the basis of circumstantial evidence… the fact situation did not show such clarity. If the evidence is not strong, then to give death penalty only because the trial court and High Court did so, then why should the matter come to the Supreme Court?” he asked.
