Working to lay down objective criteria to pick SC judges: CJI

Stressing on institutionalising the system of appointing judges by laying down objective parameters, Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said on Friday that the Supreme Court collegium has collected data of the top 50 judges in the country who would be considered for future appointments in the top court.

- Utkarsh Anand

Speaking at the Centenary Ram Jethmalani Memorial Lecture, justice Chandrachud acknowledged that one of the chief criticisms of the collegium pertained to lack of factual data before it to evaluate candidates being considered for appointments." It is a work-in-progress, but we are improving. With the help of Centre of Research and Planning (CRP), we have prepared a broad platform where we have assessed the top 50 judges in the country who would be considered for appointment to the Supreme Court," he said.

Justice Chandrachud pointed out that the collegium, which comprises the first five judges in the apex court, now have access to data on the judges, their judgments and the quality of such judgments.

"The idea is to make the process of recommending appointments to the Supreme Court more transparent...Not by sharing our discussions in the public realm, which we obviously cannot do. But by laying down objective parameters for selection to the Supreme Court," he said. Underlining that his first goal as the CJI has been to institutionalise the courts and move away from an ad-hoc model of operation, he said, "One of the important effects of institutionalising courts is that it enhances transparency and accountability.