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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

28/10/24 13:22 PM IST

Justice Sanjiv Khanna to be next CJI

In News
  • The Centre recently appointed Justice Sanjiv Khanna as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI), formally approving the recommendation made by CJI D Y Chandrachud a week ago.
Process for appointing CJI
  • By convention, the seniormost judge of the SC (based on years of experience as a judge in the apex court) becomes the CJI.
  • This process has now been put down in the ‘Memorandum of Procedure for the appointment of Supreme Court Judges’ (henceforth, referred to as the MoP).
  • BASIS OF APPOINTMENT: The MoP says that the “appointment to the office of the Chief Justice of India should be of the seniormost Judge of the Supreme Court considered fit to hold the office”.
  • Even before the MoP was agreed upon in 1999, the seniormost judge of the Supreme Court after the CJI was by convention elevated to the top post.
  • HOW THE PROCESS BEGINS: According to the MOP, the appointment process begins when “The Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs would, at the appropriate time, seek the recommendation of the outgoing Chief Justice of India for the appointment of the next Chief Justice of India”.
  • By convention, the “appropriate time” for the process to begin is a month before the date of retirement of the incumbent CJI.
  • As per the process laid down in the MoP, “after receipt of the recommendation of the Chief Justice of India, the Union Minister of Law, Justice…will put up the recommendation to the Prime Minister who will advise the President in the matter of appointment”.
  • Though the final word on appointing the next CJI technically lies with the Centre, by convention the Centre tends to appoint whoever the presiding CJI recommends as her successor.
Memorandum of Procedure
  • Following the apex court’s decisions in the First Judges Case (1981), Second Judges Case (1993), and the Third Judges Case (1998), a peer selection process for the appointment of High Court and SC judges was put in place by establishing what we now know as the Supreme Court Collegium.
  • This Collegium comprises the seniormost judges of the SC, and the Centre is technically bound to accept its recommendations.
  • The MoP — first drawn up in 1999 — provides the procedure for appointment and obligations of the Centre, the SC, and the High Courts when it comes to the appointment process.
  • This document is crucial as the Collegium system of appointing judges is a judicial innovation that is not mandated through legislation, or text of the Constitution.
Source- Indian Express

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