There is a need to strengthening the position of Judicial Council as an independent body entrusted with nomination of judges to the various courts.
It is my opinion that Judicial Council must be transparent in its functioning so as to instill faith in judges and independence of judiciary system.
The Bill fails to lay down a mechanism or procedure to instill transparency in appointment of the Judges. Further, the Bill must prescribe tenure after which a judge must be permanently reappointed. The appointment of judges is being done from a very limited pool of people which cannot guarantee best judicial appointment. The pool of candidates for appointment of judge to various courts should be widened to include practicing advocates, competent in-house counsels and professors of law.
The existing provision on appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and Appellate Court is too rigid and needs some relaxation. The criteria enumerated for appointment of judges will most likeliness eliminate best legal minds from judicial systems. Reasonable representation from Bar and the government attorneys must be incorporated to maintain healthy Bar and Bench relationship and also to give opportunities to the Bar and AG members to be judges of the law courts.
The female representation must be ensured in the Bench. Opportunities must be provided, first, to increase number of females in the Bar and, lastly, number of female judges in the Bench. They are unjustly excluded from the appointment process which can be rectified if the selection criteria are clearly listed and some relaxation/concession while evaluating female candidates.
