A Constitution Amendment Bill, to set up a commission for the appointment of judges, was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

The Bill will enable equal participation of Judiciary and Executive in appointment of Judges in higher judiciary. According to the Government, the Bill will make the system of appointments more accountable.

Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party walked out of the House demanding that the Bill should be sent to a standing committee for detailed analysis, it was passed with more than two-third members voting in favour of it.

During the debate, both the Opposition and the ruling benches criticised the present system of appointment of judges.

The Opposition leader Arun Jaitley argued that there should be strict separation of power between the legislative, executive and judiciary.

Linking the Supreme Court order on iron export with the current account deficit, he said drafting policies is the prerogative of the legislative and the executive.

“Courts cannot review a policy and say that my policy is better than your policy...It cannot say how to be tough on Naxalites,” Jaitley added.

Law Minister Kapil Sibal said the Supreme Court had interpreted Article 124 (2) of the Constitution to say that the primacy is not of the executive and had set up the collegium system.

“This resulted in a situation where executive is not part of the appointment process. Today we only have a ministerial function. Today the collegium decides and sends them to us. We then act as a Post Office and seek the consent....We suggest we have certain objections and if they reiterate we have no option. We have no role to play,” Sibal said.

jigeesh.am@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics