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President�s nod to statute Bill

By The Assam Tribune

NEW DELHI, Dec 31 � The Constitutional Amendment Bill, paving the way for scrapping of the much-criticised 20-year-old collegium system by which judges appoint judges to the higher Judiciary, received the Presidential nod today, reports PTI.

The Constitution (121st amendment) Bill, passed by the Parliament in August this year, has received the President�s assent, official sources said.

Before the task of selecting and transferring Supreme Court and High Court judges finally shifts from the collegium to a committee headed by the Chief Justice of India, the government has to get the President�s assent to the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Bill, an enabling legislation.

The government has to notify the date from which the law will come into force.

The NJAC Bill, which was also passed in August by the Parliament along with the 121st Constitutional Amendment Bill, provides for the procedure to be followed by the NJAC for recommending persons for appointment of judges of the Supreme Court, and Chief Justice and other judges of the 24 High Courts.

The Constitutional Amendment Bill grants constitutional status to the composition of the proposed Commission. It was done following demands by jurists and judges who felt that without a constitutional status, the composition could be altered by a future government by an ordinary legislation.

The government is likely to send the NJAC Bill to the President for his assent in the coming days. Law Minister DV Sadananda Gowda said that he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday to discuss the next course of action.

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