The application to abolish the Collegium System reached before the CJI, the lawyer said – Please me Lord! Chandrachud said – no, no

A petition has been filed against the collegium system in the Supreme Court. In this petition, a demand has been made to abolish the collegium system and reinstate the National Judicial Appointments Commission ie NJAC. Advocate Mathews Nedumpara’s petition was mentioned before Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud (CJI DY Chandrachud) on 16 February.

Advocate asked for a date, CJI said- No

Advocate Mathews Nedumpara requested CJI Chandrachud to give a date for hearing on his petition next week. Nedumpara said, ‘Please Lord, give me the date of 24 February. On this, Chief Justice Chandrachud said that ‘No… not on February 24, I will examine it first.’ Advocate Mathews Nedumpara (Adv Mathews Nedumpara) pleaded again ‘please, my lord…!’ but the CJI did not budge. He flatly refused and said, ‘No..no, first let me see the petition…’.

Let us tell you that this is not the first time that Advocate Mathews Nedumpara has opened a front against the collegium. He had earlier also filed a petition against the collegium system. Even in November 2022, his petition was mentioned in front of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. The CJI had then assured that the petition against the collegium system would be examined afresh.

State of contention on the Collegium System

Let us tell you that for some time, there has been a tension-like situation between the central government and the judiciary regarding the collegium. Some time ago, several media reports claimed that the Central Government wanted to appoint its representative in the collegium. However, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had rejected this claim in the Rajya Sabha recently and told what he had written in his letter to the Supreme Court.

Plea mentioned in #SupremeCourt against the Collegium system for the appointment of judges in the top court and the High Courts and revive the National Judicial Appointment Commission for the purpose

Adv Mathews Nedumpara: Please on February 24#SupremeCourtOfIndia pic.twitter.com/0XUCO6ZtqP

— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) February 16, 2023

What does the government want from the Supreme Court?

Kiren Rijiju wrote a letter to the Supreme Court on 6 January 2023, in which he suggested that representatives of the government should also be included in the search-cum-evaluation committee for the appointment of judges in the Supreme Court and High Courts. The intention behind this was that this would bring more transparency in the appointment of judges. However, the opposition made it a major issue and the BJP government was besieged on this issue.