Dr.JP to meet parliamentary panel on Judicial Appointments Bill

Lok Satta Party national President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan and a team of senior leaders will be meeting the Parliamentary Standing Committee on The Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2013, in New Delhi on Wednesday, November 13.

It may be recalled that the Constitution (120th Amendment) Bill, 2013 providing for creation a Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is the culmination of the initiative taken by the Lok Satta.

The Lok Satta had brought together three eminent jurists of unimpeachable integrity and credibility to come up with proposals for judicial appointments and constitution of an Indian Judicial Service. The three judges – Chief Justice M. N. Venkatachalaiah, Chief Justice J. S. Verma and Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer – produced a report recommending formation of a National Judicial Commission for appointment of judges in higher courts and an Indian Judicial Service for competitive, nation-wide recruitment of judges at the district judge level.

The Bill, already adopted by the Rajya Sabha, is a modified version of the proposals made by the three eminent judges. It associates the executive, legislature and judiciary in the appointment of higher judges and does away with the system of the Supreme Court appointing judges of higher courts.

The Lok Satta has all along maintained that usurpation of the power to appoint judges by the Supreme Court is plainly unconstitutional, and violates the principle of checks and balance in relation to organs of the State. The system in practice has been found to be unsatisfactory and undermining the quality and credibility of the judiciary.