New Delhi:
The Supreme Court collegium can go ahead and appoint judges, the top court said on Thursday. The five judge constitution bench, headed by Justice JS Khehar, however, reserved its order on improving the current system in which judges appoint judges.
Appointments of judges had been kept pending for the last eight months. The Supreme Court has three vacancies while 370 positions of high court judges are lying vacant across the country.
The bench had asked the government on Wednesday to compile suggestions and prepare a draft of the procedure to appoint judges. The government turned down the top court's suggestion earlier today saying it will undermine the role of Chief Justice of India.
The collegium should act on the final suggestions to improve the system of appointing judges, the government told the top court.
Last month, the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a recently passed law that assigned the task of appointing and transferring judges to a National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). The NJAC gave the executive a say in the appointments. The court ruled that the collegium system - that gives primacy to judges in appointing judges - would stay. The collegium, consisting of five senior most judges of the Supreme Court, appoints Judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts.