Explained | What is the Collegium system and how does it work?

The Supreme Court of India's Collegium system has been dominating the headlines of late with Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju criticising the decades-old system of appointment of judges saying that "nowhere in the world, except in India is there a practice where judges appoint their brother judges".

But what is the Collegium system and how does it work? Let's take a closer look.

What is the Collegium? How does it work?

The Colllegium system is a group — headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI), consisting of four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court — that decides appointments to the higher judiciary and transfer of judges.

How did the Collegium system come about?

The system has its origins in, and continued basis resting on, three judgments made by Supreme Court judges, collectively known as the Three Judges Cases.

Read | Fashion for ex-judges to comment on past decisions of Collegium: SC

In the first judges case, SP Gupta v Union of India - 1981, the judges suggested that the executive must have the biggest say in judicial appointments. In the second judges case, Supreme Court Advocates-on Record Association v Union of India - 1993, a nine-judge bench said that the CJI must be given priority in such appointments. This was reiterated in the third judges case, in re Special Reference 1 of 1998. Since then, judges have been appointed by the collegium system.

In January 2013, the court dismissed a public interest litigation filed by NGO Suraz India Trust that sought to challenge the collegium system of appointment. In July 2013, CJI P Sathasivam spoke against any attempts to change the collegium system.

In September 2013, the Rajya Sabha passed The Constitution (120th Amendment) Bill, 2013 that amends articles 124(2) and 217(1) of the Constitution of India, 1950 and establishes the National Judicial Appointments Commission, on whose recommendation the President would appoint judges to the higher judiciary. However, the amendment was quashed by the apex court for being unconstitutional in October 2015.

Criticism of the Collegium system

In recent years there has been a lot of criticism over the appointment of judges for the apex court and high courts through the Collegium system.

Read | Supreme Court takes exception to Law Minister's statement on Collegium

The Centre has opposed the Collegium system of appointment of judges for being "not transparent". The government also stated that it is to blame for the high number of vacancies in the higher judiciary.

In the past the Centre has alleged that the Collegium system was giving rise to favouritism and preventing Dalits, OBCs and the poor among the upper castes from entering the higher judiciary on the basis of merit.

Recently, Rijiju said that judges spend most of their time in picking up judges, instead of passing judgements. He called the system opaque and not accountable, while also maintaining that people were not happy with it.

What the SC has said

Meanwhile, the SC has maintained that the Collegium is the most transparent institution and that the existing system should not be derailed on the basis of statements of "some busybody".

Earlier, former Chief Justice of India U U Lalit had said that the Collegium system is perfect and here to stay unless the government wants to revive the National Judicial Appointment Commission which was brought in 2014 that was declared unconstitutional by the apex court.

(With DH, agency inputs.)