Plea in Kerala HC against Collegium system of Appointment of Judges [Read Petition]

The Appellant had approached the single bench,seeking an order of ad-interim injunction direction, to refrain from proceeding any further with the selection and appointments of judges to the august office of Supreme Court and Various High Courts by means of the “Collegium System” pending finalization of Memorandum of Procedure as envisaged in the judgment of the NJAC case.In the. The Appellant had approached the single bench,seeking an order of ad-interim injunction direction, to refrain from proceeding any further with the selection and appointments of judges to the august office of Supreme Court and Various High Courts by means of the “Collegium System” pending finalization of Memorandum of Procedure as envisaged in the judgment of the NJAC case. In the appeal filed by a moffusil court lawyer,he contended that:- “he bona fide believed that the current collegium system of selection and appointment of judges to the higher judiciary worked out to the great disadvantage of the lawyers practising in the Courts subordinate to the Supreme Court and High Courts”. It was further stated:- “Even assuming that the collegium system of selection and appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and high Courts is otherwise ideal, it falls short of being the just and fair system inasmuch as in so far as the lawyers, like the Appellant, who practice in the subordinate Courts, the Chief Justice and senior Judges of the Supreme Court/High Courts, who constitute to be the collegium, ordinarily will have no occasion to assess the competence, performance and talents of the lawyers who practice in the subordinate Courts who are equally competent and talented as lawyers practising exclusively in the higher Courts because the former seldom appear before the superior Courts, with the result that their skill, competence, suitability and desirability to be elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court or High Court are never assessed.