Judges appointment: SCBA urges CJI, law minister to finalise MoP, calls for transparent system

New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI) The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has written to Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal seeking finalisation of the memorandum of procedure (MoP) and institution of a "transparent, equitable, and merit-driven" framework for appointment of judges in the top court and high courts.

SCBA president and senior advocate Vikas Singh wrote to the CJI and Meghwal on September 12, flagging structural flaws in the existing collegium system and said the delays in reform were undermining both judicial integrity and public confidence.

He said while the collegium system was created to safeguard judicial independence, it inadvertently gave rise to serious challenges.

Singh said the collegium routinely overlooked qualified lawyers from the Supreme Court bar for elevation to high courts in their respective states, despite their extensive exposure to national jurisprudence.

“The prevailing Collegium mechanism, while designed to preserve judicial independence, has inadvertently created significant challenges. Its structural flaws demand urgent and comprehensive correction.

“First, it arbitrarily ignores the vast talent pool within the Supreme Court Bar for elevation to their respective home state High Courts. These practitioners, whose exposure to national jurisprudence should be viewed as a superior qualification, are being systematically overlooked. This not only wastes valuable judicial talent but also undermines the core principle merit-based selection,” he said.

He also flagged "troubling" under-representation of women in judiciary and referred to official data.

“This is not an abstract concern but a reality borne out by hard data. As of February 2024, women constituted merely 9.5% of the sanctioned strength in High Courts and a stark 2.94% in the Supreme Court. This is a glaring indictment of systemic exclusion, where the tyranny of a presumed meritocracy masks a deeper reliance on informal networks and patronage,” he said.

On the issue of marginalisation of briefing lawyers, the SCBA president said the existing process focuses almost exclusively on arguing counsels while ignoring briefing lawyers and juniors, who are often the “unseen architects” of litigation.

“To elevate only the visible face is to perpetuate a flawed understanding of competence,” he wrote to the CJI.

The Supreme Court, he said, had already laid down a reform blueprint for revising the MoP.

Singh stressed these directions were not merely aspirational but actionable, and any further delay in implementing them was “indefensible”.

Proposing reforms in the MoP, the SCBA said permanent secretariats be set up in every High Court and in the Supreme Court to maintain data on candidates and vacancies, and to ensure institutional memory.

He also batted for transparent application-based process and said, “The current informal system must be replaced with a formal process where applications are invited publicly. This ensures every deserving candidate, including those from the Supreme Court Bar, is considered on demonstrable merit through a structured mechanism.” The MoP should contain the provision to publish objective criteria, covering minimum age, years of practice, reported judgments, and pro bono work, for evaluating candidates before their elevation to higher judiciary, he added. PTI SJK SJK AMK AMK