CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

Rough draft for the partial fulfillment of LEGAL METHODS course

On
NJAC VS. COLLEGIUM

Submitted To:-
Mr. Vijayant
Faculty of legal methods

Submitted by:-
Dilip Kumar
Roll no. - 1526
1 st year B.A.,LL.B.(Hons)

Date of submission:-7th September, 2016

(A).INTRODUCTION
National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) was a proposed body which would have been responsible for
the appointment and transfer of judges to the higher judiciary in India. The Commission was established by
amending the Constitution of India through the ninety-ninth constitution amendment vide the Constitution (Ninety-
Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014 passed by the Lok Sabha on 13 August 2014 and by the Rajya Sabha on 14 August
2014. The NJAC would have replaced the collegium system for the appointment of judges as invoked by the
Supreme court via judicial fiat by a new system. Along with the Constitution Amendment Act, the National Judicial
Appointments Commission Act, 2014, was also passed by the Parliament of India to regulate the functions of the
National Judicial Appointments Commission. The NJAC Bill and the Constitutional Amendment Bill, was ratified
by 16 of the state legislatures in India, and subsequently assented by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 31
December 2014. The NJAC Act and the Constitutional Amendment Act came into force from 13 April 2015. On 16
October 2015 the Constitution Bench of Supreme Court by 4:1 Majority upheld the collegium system and struck
down the NJAC as unconstitutional after hearing the petitions filed by several persons and bodies with Supreme
Court Advocates on Record Association (SCAoRA) being the first and lead petitioner. Justices J S Khehar, MB
Lokur, Kurian Joseph and Adarsh Kumar Goel had declared the 99th Amendment and NJAC Act unconstitutional
while Justice Chelameswar upheld it.
The collegium system of appointment of judges is popularly referred to as judges-selecting-judges. The collegium
system was created by two judgements of the Supreme Court in 1990s in which a body of senior apex court judges
headed by the Chief Justice of India selected persons and recommended their names for appointment as judges.
Under the the 22-year-old court-framed collegium system of appointment and transfer of judges of high courts and
the Supreme Court, the chief justice of the respective high courts and two other senior-most judges of the court
comprise a collegium empowered by virtue of a 1993 judgment of the Supreme Court to identify suitable
candidates, do due diligence and recommend for appointment as judges of the court. The shortlisted candidates are
scrutinized by a collegium of five senior-most judges of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of India before being
cleared for appointment. The same collegium of the apex court identifies serving judges and chief justices of high
courts for elevation to the Supreme Court.
There is no mention of the collegium either in the original Constitution of India or in successive
(1) AIMS AND OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

(i) THE RESEARCHER S AIM IS TO STUDY COLLEGIUM SYSTEM OF APPOINTMENTS OF JUDGES.

(ii) TO STUDY ABOUT NJAC SYSTEM .
(iii) TO STUDY THE PROVISION IN OTHER COUNTRIES FOR APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES .

(1) HYPOTHESIS
THE RESEARCHER HAS ASSUMED THAT,
(i) BOTH THE SYSTEM HAS LACUNAS .
(ii) COLLEGIUM SYSTEM IS BETTER THEN NJAC .

(1) RESEARCH QUESTION

(i) What is collegium system and njac?
(ii) Brief idea about the difference between them.
(iii) What are the methods in other country for appointment of judges.
 (2) LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT

OWING TO THE LARGE NUMBER OF TOPICS THAT COULD BE INCLUDED IN THE PROJECT,THE SCOPE OF THIS RESEARCH
PAPER IS EXCEEDINGLY VAST. HOWEVER IN THE INTEREST OF BREVITY AND DUE TO CERTAIN RESTRICTIONS LIKE
THAT OF LIMITATION OF TIME ETC,THE RESEARCHER WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DEAL WITH THE TOPIC IN GREAT DETAIL.

(B).REVIEW OF EXISTING LITERATURE

FOR THE PURPOSE OF RESEARCH THE RESEARCHER WILL VISIT CNLU LIBRARY AND REVIEW VARIOUS
SOURCES AVAILABLE BOTH OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY NATURE. DETAILED REVIEW OF LITERATURE WILL BE
PROVIDED BY THE RESEARCHER IN THE FINAL DRAFT.

(C).RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

(i) SOURCES OF DATA

PRIMARY SOURCES CASE LAWS ,STATUTE

SECONDARY SOURCES BOOKS , WEBSITES, JOURNALS, ARTICLES, MAGAZINES ETC.

(D).TENTATIVE CHAPTERISATION

(I) INTRODUCTION
(II) HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
(III) COLLEGIUM SYSTEM
(IV) NJAC
(V) PROVISION IN OTHER COUNTRIES.
(VI) CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

(I) Kapur A.C Principles of Political Science. S chand publication,2010.

(ii) Arora N Political science, TATA McGraw hills,2011.

WEBSITES

(i) http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/What-is-the-collegium-system/articleshow/49404698.cms
(ii) http://www.thehindu.com/specials/in-depth/njac-vs-collegium-the-debate-decoded/article7768919.ece
(iii) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Judicial_Appointments_Commission
(iv) http://www.lexisnexis.com/in/legal/search/flap.do?flapID=cases&random=0.09338440501575418
(v) http://www.manupatrafast.in/pers/Personalized.aspx