New Delhi:
The Narendra Modi government says top jurists who attended a meeting with ministers on Monday have favoured a change in the way Supreme Court and High Court judges are selected.
"The predominant view is in favour of changing the collegium system. The government will decide what to do next," Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told NDTV after a meeting attended by former Chief Justices of India, the Chairman of the Law Commission, top lawyers, former law officers and legal experts. Law Minister
Ravi Shankar Prasad and Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley, both senior lawyers, were also present.
Currently, a collegium comprising the Chief Justice of India and four seniormost judges makes appointments to the Supreme Court and High Court.
The government's moves towards revamping the selection system follows its row with the judiciary recently over the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and allegations by former Supreme Court judge Markanday Katju that three former Chief Justices of India gave in to political pressure to help a corrupt judge.
(Read)The Law Minister last week wrote to various political parties inviting their views on judges' appointments.
"There was consensus for improvement and need for change. By and large there was consensus on transparency," Mr Prasad said after Monday's meeting.
A bill and a Parliamentary panel report replacing the collegium system with a panel of six - three members each from the judiciary and the government - is pending in Parliament.
The BJP-led government is not satisfied with provisions of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, which was introduced in Parliament last year by the previous UPA regime and examined by a Parliamentary panel.
The selection committee envisaged by the bill is to be headed by the Chief Justice of India, and will have as its members two judges of the Supreme Court, the union law minister and two eminent citizens.