Judiciary's Accountability System is 'Faulty, Weak, Toothless'; How Judges Are Chosen Must Change

The judiciary's system for accountability is "faulty, weak, toothless . it should be statutory . Parliament should pass law in consultation with the judiciary"; we need to significantly amend the way judges are chosen: Justice Lokur

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In an interview to discuss two serious questions raised by the Justice Yashwant Varma and Justice Shekhar Yadav cases i.e. is the judiciary’s in-house mechanism for accountability ineffective and do we need to amend and change the way judges are chosen, one of the most highly regarded former judges of the Supreme Court has admitted that the in-house mechanism for accountability is “faulty, weak and toothless”. Justice Madan Lokur agrees that its application is often “selective and arbitrary”. Justice Lokur says “it should be statutory” adding that “Parliament should pass a law” in consultation with the judiciary.



In a 36-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Justice Lokur has also spoken critically of the Collegium System for appointing judges, saying that it does need serious amendment. He agrees that both underserving wrong people can be appointed as judges as well as more deserving people excluded and not elevated to judgeship.



Justice Lokur also accepts that the Collegium System, which was devised to circumvent interference by the executive, has often become a victim of an effective executive veto and failed to adequately respond to that.



There is also a significant discussion about how effective the Collegium System is in appointing High Court judges and whether it is particularly weak and infirm at this level. This matters because perhaps 95% or more Supreme Court judges are chosen from the High Court judiciary and if the selection of High Court judges is poor and faulty that will, in due course, afflict the top Court as well.



Justice Lokur says we need a widespread national debate, to begin with within the judiciary, to discuss how the method and procedure for choosing judges is amended and changed to tackle the many problems he’s discussed in this interview.



I will stop there. I do not want to give away more because I think you should see this very thoughtful and reflective interview for yourself. If you are concerned by cases like Justice Varma and Justice Yadav and why the judiciary is unable to hold judges to account and if you are also concerned about the quality of judges (both chosen and not elevated) then this is an interview you must see.

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