Collegium System Needs Improvement; Lawyers In Trial Courts & Law Firms Ignored : SCBA President Vikas Singh

Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, on Saturday said that the Collegium system needs improvement, as it omits to consider several lawyers who are practising in the trial courts or are in the law firms.

Speaking at the Constitution Day celebrations held at the Supreme Court, Singh said :

 "I feel that the collegium system also needs improvement. I have always advocated that the collegium system was the right system provided it functioned properly and in this functioning that we have seen so far, the basis of envisaging the collegium system was that the judgment of the Supreme Court felt that the judges of the Supreme Court know the lawyers and accordingly they are in the best position to select the best of them. The premise on first blush looks very attractive but on a deeper scrutiny, it is seen that it is impossible for any collegium to know the lakhs and lakhs of lawyers practicing in the High Court. There is no method by which the collegium can know where a particular lawyer is or should be elevated. There are lawyers in law firms, there are lawyers in trial courts who deserve to be elevated but this system of collegium knowing the person personally to elevate is an extremely faulty system and in the process our judiciary is suffering. The judiciary being the upholder of the Constitution needs to be given top most primacy because even a law passed by unanimity by the entire Parliament can be set at naught  by two judges sitting in the court room. That's the kind of power that the judges wield in our system and to ensure that this power remains in the right hands, we have to ensure that the system remains relevant".

Constitution is an evolving document

Singh stated that the Constitution is an evolving document and it has to be an instrument of social change. "The members of the Constituent Assembly had a deep vision, intellect and caliber and that is how with a lot of deliberation they could produce this magnificent document which we all see today."

He also said that, "There were certain imperfections in the Constitution, the constitution gave the responsibility of enacting laws to the parliament, executing laws to the executive and upholding the law to the judiciary, the judiciary in all these years while doing justice have also been noticing some imperfections in the original constitution and because of the indulgence of the judiciary of noticing these lacunae the constitution has been amended 105 times till now."

He also addressed the issues which require corrective actions and among them he addressed the need of a stronger law in order to bar criminals from getting into politics. He also talked on the need for strong Anti-Defection Laws, where he stated that, "The anti-defection law which has been made with a very salutary purpose of ensuring that there is no cris-crossing of people who get elected by a particular political party needs to be strengthened. A person who is accused or is found guilty of the anti-defection law cannot be permitted to get back into the same house, he should be definitely barred for the entirety of the house in which he is alleged to have defected"