‘Judge selection norms must be made public’

Source: Times of India dated 14.11.2019

-- Dhananjay Mahapatra

As part of a five-judge Constitution bench led by CJI Ranjan Gogoi which ruled that the CJI’s office is amenable to RTI Act, Justice D Y Chandrachud made a remarkable suggestion — frame quantifiable norms for selection of persons for appointment as judges of the HCs and SC and make them public.

Justice N V Ramana, also part of the five-judge bench, sounded caution by observing that in name of transparency, “right to information should not be allowed to be used as a tool of surveillance”.

Justice Chandrachud addressed a long pending grievance from most quarters that the collegium of SC judges headed by the CJI, which recommends to the Centre names for appointment of judges to the constitutional courts, functions in a translucent manner to invite a tag of arbitrariness to its decisions.

This was reflected in the October 2015 judgement of another five-judge SC bench, which had struck down National Judicial Appointments Commission as intrusion into judicial independence.

Justice Chandrachud said the basis for selection and appointment of judges to higher judiciary must be defined and placed in the public realm. “Due publicity to the norms which have been formulated and are applied would foster a degree of transparency and promote accountability in decision-making at all levels within the judiciary and government,” he said.

“There is a vital public interest in disclosing the basis on which those with judicial experience are evaluated for elevation to higher judicial office, particularly with regard to merit, integrity and judicial performance. Placing criteria in public domain would fulfil mandate of Section 4 of the RTI Act, engender public confidence and provide a safeguard against extraneous considerations entering into the process,” he said.