NATIONAL JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS COMMISSION

(NJAC)
INTRODUCTION

• The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) was a proposed

body which would have been responsible for the recruitment, appointment and
transfer of judicial officers, legal officers and legal employees under the
Government of India and in all state governments of India.
• 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.
• On 16 October 2015, the Constitution Bench of Supreme Court by a 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.

• Declaring that the judiciary cannot risk being caught in a “web of indebtedness” towards
the government, the Supreme Court rejected the National Judicial Appointments
Commission (NJAC) Act and the 99th Constitutional Amendment which sought to give
politicians and civil society a final say in the appointment of judges to the highest courts.

• The expectation from the judiciary, to safeguard the rights of the citizens of this country,
can only be ensured, by keeping it absolutely insulated and independent, from the other
organs of governance,” Justice J.S. Khehar, the presiding judge on the five-judge
Constitution Bench, explained in his individual judgment.
COMPOSITION OF NJAC

• Chief Justice of India

• Two other of senior judges of the Supreme Court next to the Chief Justice of
India.
• The Law Minister of India
• Two eminent persons.
NOMINATION OF EMINENT PERSONS

• The two eminent persons would be nominated by a committee consisting of the –

• Chief Justice of India
• The Prime Minister of India
• Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha (or where there is no such Leader of
Opposition, then, the Leader of single largest Opposition Party in Lok Sabha),
provided that of the two eminent persons, one person would be from the SC/ST or
OBC or minority communities or a woman. The eminent persons shall be
nominated for a period of three years and shall not be eligible for re-nomination.
SUPPORT FOR NJAC

• The only one of the five-judge bench who opposed the majority decision was Jasti
Chelameswar, who held that the proposed composition of the NJAC would not be a
constitutional issue, and that it could have acted “as a check on unwholesome trade-offs
within the collegium and incestuous accommodations between Judicial and Executive
branches.