SC declines plea against Collegium system to protect public’s best interest

A view of the Supreme Court of India in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

The Supreme Court Registry has refused to accept a petition to end the Collegium system of judicial appointments and revive the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), seeking to “prevent needless waste of judicial time and energy”.

In a six-page order, Supreme Court Registrar Puneet Sehgal explained that the Collegium system had already been upheld, while the NJAC — which gave an equal role to the government in judicial appointments — had been struck down by a Constitution Bench in October 2015. A review plea against the judgment was also subsequently dismissed in 2018.

The petition filed by advocate Mathews Nedumpara only “replicated” issues which have already been put to rest, Mr. Sehgal said. “It is critical to ensure litigants do not overburden courts with matters which already stand adjudicated,” he observed in the order dated April 24.

Overreach or ulterior motive

A repeat litigation was not in the public’s best interest, the order said, adding that the petition by Mr. Nedumpara was either an attempt to overreach the principles of settled law or fuelled by an “ulterior motive”.

The Registrar invoked the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 in his order. “I hold that the registration of the present case was not proper and by virtue of Order XV Rule 5 of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013, I hereby decline to receive the same,” the order declared.

Under this provision of the 2013 Rules, the Registrar may refuse to receive a petition on the ground that it discloses no reasonable cause or is frivolous or contains scandalous matter. The petitioner has 15 days to appeal to the court.

‘Synonym for nepotism’

The petition was filed in 2023 amidst verbal attacks against the Collegium system by then-Law Minister Kiren Rijiju.

The plea argues that the Supreme Court, through its Constitution Bench judgment of October 2015, had thwarted the “will of the people” by striking down the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act which had introduced the NJAC mechanism.

The petition says that the 2015 judgment should be rendered void ab initio as it had revived the Collegium system, which the petitioners called a “synonym for nepotism and favouritism”.