New Delhi, September 14
Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam on Saturday defended the collegium system of appointment of judges in the higher judiciary, but said it is the prerogative of the Centre to bring in a Bill to change it.

"Now, as the CJI, I am not going into the contents of the Bill and how it was passed, as it is the prerogative of the government and it is for the people to accept it or not. It is too early for me to say anything on the Judicial Appointment Commission or Committee," Justice Sathasivan said while inaugurating a seminar on rule of law.

His remarks came after Bar Association of India president Anil Divan raised questions on the way the Centre brought the Bill "without" taking members of the judicial fraternity into confidence and "rushed" it through the Rajya Sabha. He said they did not receive a response from the Law Minister to a letter by the country’s top jurists (dated April 17) seeking a draft copy of the Bill.

The CJI said the government and its agencies have a say in the present collegium system and their views were also taken into consideration for the appointment of judges. He said no name is finalised until it gets clearance from the Law Minister, the Prime Minister and the President and in the whole mechanism, inputs from the Intelligence bureau, respective high courts and eminent people such as sons of the soil, are taken into consideration. He said judicial function is universally recognised as distinct and separate in the system of government and is the "very heart" of the republic and the "bulwark" of democracy.

He said judicial accountability is fostered through the process of selection, discipline and removal found in the Constitution.

Stressing the need for an independent judiciary, he said, without it, there is a little hope for the rule of law.

"The need for judicial independence is for the people," he said. — PTI