'Don't Want The Court To Be Saffron': Kapil Sibal Says Collegium System Better Than Govt Controlling Judges' Appointments

Even though the collegium system is not perfect, it is better that the Government having complete control over the appointment of judges, said Senior Advocate and former Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal in an interview to Mirror Now channel.

The present Government has control over all public offices and if it captures the judiciary as well by appointing "their own judges", it will be dangerous for democracy, he opined.

"They(Govt) want their own people there(judiciary). They have their own people at universities now, the Vice chancellors are theirs, Governors in States are theirs– who sing their praises. Less said about the Election Commission is better. All public offices are controlled by them. They have their own people in the ED, they have their own people in the income tax, they have their own people in the CBI. They want their own judges too."

Sibal stated that the current government had such an absolute majority that it thought that it could do whatever.

However, the former law minister also expressed his issues with the present collegium system. He stated that the collegium system was not perfect. Yet, it was still better than having government appoint judges. Sibal said–

"I have a lot of concerns about the way that the collegium system works but I am more concerned about the fact that the government wants to capture the appointment of judges as well and have their own people there as well with their particular ideology. Between the two, any day I would prefer the collegium system."

He said that the attempts of the Government to capture the judiciary must be resisted because "the last citadel of democracy is the Court, and if that falls, we have no hope left".

Expressing disapproval of the Law Minister Kiren Rijiju's comments on the collegium system, Sibal said–

"It is inappropriate for anyone to make public statements of this nature. I think if anything needs to be done, the court should look at it on its own procedure. The government should, if it thinks that a new system is necessary for the appointment of judges, it should propose the new system through legislation. That is the only way to move forward. If they don't accept the judgement in NJAC, they should ask for a review."

He also added that the attacks on the judiciary were only one-sided attacks. In this context, he said–

"All statements made by Supreme Court are in the court and there is no public statement made by judges."

While highlighting that the present collegium system was constitutional, he stated that previously, the appointment of judges was supposed to be in consultation with the Chief Justice of India. Thus–

"The court said that 'in consultation' meant that the Chief Justice knows better. Therefore, it is the judiciary that will decide. Because they know who are the lawyers and who are the judges or who need to be appointed. What is wrong with that? The government is consulted. The names are sent. If they have an issue they can send back the names."

Sibal underlined that the government had no means to know which lawyer was good and which lawyer was bad. He added–

"Ministers these days...law ministers only have degrees. They don't practice. How would they know sitting in their offices as to which lawyer is efficient and who is not efficient?

Highlighting the issues with the collegium system, Sibal said that it was non-transparent, there was a lot of "camaraderie" (he seemed to have been indicating that appointments often take place on the basis of personal relationships). He said–

"What is even worse is that High Court judges now look at Supreme Court judges for their appointments, and for their elevation to the Supreme Court. So this has impacted the independence of High Court judges as well. Because they constantly look at the Supreme Court and want to please the Supreme Court and show them that they're the judges who should be appointed. That is not good."

Nevertheless, he will prefer the collegium system over the government taking over the appointments.

Finally, Sibal said–

"Everything else is saffron. I don't want the court to be saffron."

Also watch, interview of Senior Advocate Arvind P Datar on collegium system - Collegium System Has Saved The Judiciary, Best Option To Appoint Judges: Arvind P Datar | Interview [Video]