He added that the collegium system was merely a name given to an existing system of selecting judges, and that the Second Judges Case only formalized this system.
According to him, the Second Judges Case attempted to impose discipline on the selection process of judges.
“The judges who wrote this judgment only wanted the best for the country. But unfortunately power tends to corrupt. Abusing power is corruption on the system. Whether it is legislative executive or judicial power, power is power. In this process collegium system created a lot of problems which I put on record (in NJAC judgement),” he stated.
He was referring to his dissenting judgment in the NJAC case in which he had upheld NJAC which sought to replace the Collegium system.
Justice Chelameswar was delivering the inaugural address at the National seminar on the topic of “Is Collegium Alien To The Constitution”, organised by the Bharatheeya Abhibhashaka Parishad Kerala at the Kerala High Court.
Referring to a book authored by Dr. Abhinav Chandrachud, in which he discusses a Madhya Pradesh High Court judge whose elevation was recommended thrice but not accepted by the government, Justice Chelameswar explained that it was in this context that the collegium system was established.
“For some time govt was not clearing the names recommended by the judges of the collegium. I read a book recently which was authored by the son of the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. He speaks about a judgment given by Madhya Pradesh judge and his elevation was recommended three times but the government refused to accept it. It is in this background that the collegium system came to be,” he said.
Source: Barandbench
