Chief Justice of India R M Lodha on Monday strongly defended the collegium system of appointment of judges and said there was a concerted campaign to defame the judiciary.
CJI RM Lodha’s anguished outburst in Supreme Court was triggered by a petition questioning Justice Manjunath’s reported appointment as chief justice of Punjab and Haryana high court.
The CJI said the report about collegium reiterating its recommendation on justice Manjunath after Centre returned it for reconsideration is totally baseless.
“Everyone is out to condemn the collegium system terming it as a failure,” the CJI said adding, “don’t shake the confidence of people in judiciary.”
The CJI said under the collegium system, he was in the first batch of judges while justice RF Nariman is the last as of now.
“If the collegium has failed, then its products (the judges) too are failures and the judiciary as a whole has failed the country,” Justice RM Lodha said.
“As an institution the collegium had its limitations in selecting persons. After all judges too come from the same society. But to carry on a campaign just because of allegations against one or two judges is unfair,” the CJI said.
(Source: PTI)
