Need complete overhaul of Collegium & collaborative mechanism of both bar & bench for accountability

Описание: Press Release & Video: We need "a complete overhaul of the Collegium" and "a collaborative mechanism involving both bar and bench" for judicial accountability: Former Law Minister Kapil Sibal to Karan Thapar for The Wire.

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One of India’s foremost lawyers and a former Law Minister has said we need “a complete overhaul of the Collegium” because “the Collegium System has let us down”. Kapil Sibal also says that we need “a collaborative mechanism involving both bar and bench” to ensure judicial accountability.



In a 30-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Kapil Sibal, the present President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said he would be willing to knock on the Chief Justice of India’s doors both to suggest how the Collegium System should be overhauled and also to help put in place a new mechanism involving both bar and bench for judicial accountability.



I will leave you to hear the interview to get further details of what Mr. Sibal has in mind in terms of how the Collegium should be overhauled as well as in terms of how a collaborative mechanism, involving both bar and bench, should be created to ensure more effective judicial accountability. There is a lot of detail in this interview and its best that you hear it yourself.



There is also a significant discussion of the Justice Yashwant Varma and Justice Shekhar Yadav cases. But they were not the main subject of this interview. Again, I will leave you to hear the interview to find out what Mr. Sibal says about both of them.



However, I will share with you some small details of how Mr. Sibal believes the Collegium should be overhauled. He advocates the creation of a 11-member Selection Committee comprising representatives of lawyers, judges, academics, informed journalists as well as members of the government and highly regarded members of the public. This Committee should recommend several names to the government which would be more than the vacancies that are sought to be to filled, leaving the government to choose from the recommended names the ones they are willing to accept but with the strict condition that the government cannot go outside these names.



On the subject of an improved mechanism for judicial accountability, Mr. Sibal talks about how different types of misdemeanours (criminal or financial or sexual, etc.) may need to be treated differently but the mechanism should be clear in each case about the procedure. It needs to be formal, well-known and well-structured. You also need different grades of punishment in cases where impeachment is not warranted but Mr. Sibal accepts that if a judge is stopped from work, for two or three weeks, as punishment that could impair his or her credibility and standing and, therefore, the ability to function effectively.



I will stop there. There’s a lot in this interview for those who care about both subjects to usefully listen to and learn for themselves.


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