The Supreme Court has dismissed a PIL seeking to make recommendation of collegium on appointment of judges public on its website. The Apex Court also expressed concern over misleading campaign to defame judiciary. A bench led by the Chief Justice of India, pointed out that the campaign to disrespect judiciary is doing great damage to an important organ of the system.
Defending the collegium system, Chief Justice R M Lodha said that he was the first of the judges to be appointed under the collegium system and at present all the judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts are the products of the same system. Lodha said this while hearing a petition connected to Justice K L Manjunath, whose elevation has been recommended by the collegium for promotion despite the Centre's objections. He said that repeated attempts are being made to spread incorrect information about the functioning and decisions of the collegium. His reaction came a day after former Supreme Court Judge Markandey Katju alleged former Chief Justice of India,CJI, S H Kapadia, besides three other ex-CJIs, were informed by him about corrupt practices of some High Court judges but they all failed to take action.
The government is also trying to place a new law to scrap the collegium system in the ongoing sessions of the Parliament.