NEW DELHI: Top lawyer and Congress functionary Abhishek Manu Singhvi has backed the proposal, under consideration of SC collegium, to pause for some time appointment of high court judges from among lawyers or judicial officers whose parents or close relatives were/are judges of SC or HCs to give first-generation lawyers a chance to become constitutional court judges.
TOI was the first to report about the proposal and also that SC collegium has decided to interact with lawyers and judicial officers, recommended by high court collegiums for appointment as high court judges, to evaluate their suitability and assess their capability and calibre.
Reacting to TOI report, senior advocate Singhvi said both proposals were good and should be implemented sooner rather than later. “If true, both proposals under SC collegium consideration, seemingly radical, are good & should be implemented sooner rather than later. I wrote decades ago that collegium judges should disguise themselves and sit in courts of those judges being considered for elevation or lawyers in action before elevation. Like sultans of old used to do in ancient times to learn what are the real problems of their fief. We would all be astonished (and scared) at the hiatus between CV and reality, between paper appraisal vs court performance. Interviews proposed now not as good as my suggestion but at least second best, though surprise checks in disguise are not unrealistic,” he wrote on X.
“Second proposal must also be implemented. Reality of judicial appointments is much murkier and much more non-objective than originally conceived. Mutual back scratching, uncle judges, family lineage, etc, demoralise others and bring disrepute to the institution. But easier said than done: till now we are unable to even ban lawyer relatives practising in the same high court as judge relatives. Time and again, the system has proved stronger than desirable impulses for reform,” Singhvi further said.
