INDIA DIGEST revival of collegium: AG -...

THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2015 17TIMES NATION

Seeking to substantiateits pitch that the collegi-um system would be

back, the bench recalled thecases of constitutional provi-sions which were changedthrough the 39th and 42ndconstitutional amendments.The old provisions came intoforce soon as the twin amend-ments were struck down.

“Striking down an amend-ment would mean that it neverexisted and old system is re-vived,” the bench said. Thiswas an emphatic riposte to thestatement the AG made onMay 12 when he said that thecollegium system in which thejudiciary conferred upon it-self the prerogative to appointjudges of SC and HCs cannotbe revived even if NJAC is de-clared unconstitutional.

“Even if NJAC is quashedwhat is dead cannot be revived.You cannot go back to the oldsystem. There is no question ofautomatic revival of the oldsystem and Parliament will sitagain to re-legislate,” Rohatgihad said. He had said: “Theoriginal Article 124 has nowdisappeared from the Consti-tution. It is dead, buried and

gone forever. It cannot be res-urrected. It won’t come to lifeeven after this bench quashedthe amendment and holds thatNJAC is unconstitutional.”

The examples of 39th and42nd amendments are signif-icant as the twin changeswere made by Indira Gandhigovernment during emer-gency to restrict the scope ofjudicial review.

Defenders of the collegi-um system have argued thatthe mechanism where judgesalone get to decide who can beon the benches of SC and HCsis vital for protecting judicialindependence, and that theabolition of Collegium will letthe executive and legislativeencroach on judiciary’s turf.

The 39th amendment hadplaced the election of the Pres-ident, the Vice President, thePM and the Speaker of the LS

beyond the scrutiny of the In-dian courts. It was quashed bythe court and the election proc-ess of the constitutional postswas brought under judicial re-view as was the position beforethe amendment. The 42ndamendment had given unfet-tered powers to Parliament toamend the Constitution.

As for AG’s charge aboutcollegium being responsiblefor the appointment of ineffi-cient judges, the bench saidthe government cannot es-cape the blame, if any, either. Itemphasized that one so-calledinefficient SC judge was cho-sen by the Centre for the Na-tional Human Rights Com-mission after his retirement.

Rohatgi, while mention-ing the case of the judge, saidthe judge had disposed offless than 100 cases in his ca-reer before collegium elevat-ed him to the top court.

You talked about givingdue representations to differ-ent sections. One case can’tmake the rule, but see afterhis retirement what you (government) did. You ap-pointed him in the NHRC,”the bench said.

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No question of automaticrevival of collegium: AG

�Continued from P 1 A lady doctor was allegedlymolested by a contractualworker at Burdwan MedicalCollege Hospital in West Ben-gal. Superintendent of thehospital Dr Utpal Dan said thewoman, an intern, was at thedoctor’s rest room at theEmergency last night whenshe was molested by theworker, Prasun Nayak.

Kerala airportclash: CISF fired 2more shotsKerala police on Fri-day said CISF sub in-spector Sita RamChoudhary, whosegunshot killed his col-league on Wednesday,had fired two morerounds at fire forcepersonnel “with theintention of harmingthem” immediately af-ter Yadav was felled.

Nek Chand to becremated today:Chandigarh’s RockGarden creator NekChand’s body wouldbe cremated with full state honours on Saturday.

BSF forces Pak to stopborder construction: BSFon Friday prevented Pakistanfrom constructing an observa-tion post close to the interna-tional border near Jammu.

Search for CG Dornierplane enters fourth day:The search for the missingCoast Guard Dornier aircraftand its three crew membersentered the fourth day on Fri-day with INS Sandhayak, a hy-drographic survey vessel, joining the operations off theTamil Nadu coast.

INDIA DIGEST

Doctor molestedat hospital bycontract worker

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New Delhi: A Madras highcourt judge, who had threat-ened the chief justice of thecourt with contempt of con-duct and whose conduct wasseverely criticized by the Su-preme Court, has questionedthe collegium system for ap-pointment of judges saying it functions in an “autocrat-ic” manner.

In a letter written to thePresident, the Prime Minis-ter and the Chief Justice of India, Justice C S Karnan favoured scrapping of the col-legium system by bringingNJAC. “The present Uniongovernemnt has rightlyamended the bill which re-sulted in the formation ofthe NJAC in order to main-tain the independency ondemocratic lines and renderjustice as it is meant to be,”Justice Karnan said in histwo-page letter.

Madras highcourt judge

favours NJAC

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New Delhi: Former Odishachief minister Giridhar Ga-mang, whose controversialvote during the 1999 no-con-fidence motion had contrib-uted to the fall of Atal BihariVajpayee-led NDA govern-ment after thirteen monthsin office, on Friday decidedto join BJP.

Both BJP and Gamangput the past behind and em-braced each other as the for-mer Congress member metBJP chief Amit Shah at theparty headquarters. Ga-mang said he likes BJP’s “po-litical strategy”.

Gamang was caught up ina controversy in Parliamenton April 17, 1999, when theVajpayee government fell ashe voted despite having be-come the Odisha CM by then.Since Gamang, who was thenMP from Koraput, had not re-signed from Lok Sabha eventwo months after becomingCM, it was left to his con-science to decide whether tovote. He voted, much againstprotests from BJP MPs.

However, BJP tried to bury

the issue saying Gamang vot-ed against the BJP-led NDAgovernment and then he was apart of Congress. Gamanghad argued that it was Nation-al Conference’s Saifuddin Sozwhose cross-voting led to theNDA’s defeat. He also recalledthat Mayawati’s BSP, whichhad five members in LS, madea last minute change in standand instead of abstaining, vot-ed against the government.

The BJP leadership is toformally welcome the 72-year-old tribal leader in Bhu-baneshwar. The party hopesGamang’s entry will streng-then its base in Odisha.Asked why he was joiningBJP, Gamang said, “I hadmany options but I decidedto join a party where therewas my acceptance.”

Man responsiblefor Vajpayee govt’sfall set to join BJP

BURYING THE PAST: Gamang

The original Article124 has disappeared fromthe Constitution. It is dead,buried and gone forever. Itcannot be resurrectedMUKUL ROHATGIAttorney General