The Supreme Court will hear a batch of petitions today challenging the 121st constitutional amendment by which collegium system for appointment of judges in higher judiciary was scrapped and a new mechanism under National Judicial Appointment Commission(NJAC) was proposed to be put in place.

Four PILs have been filed in the apex court for declaring the NJAC move as unconstitutional.

The petitions filed by, among others, Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record (AoR) Association and former Additional Solicitor General Bishwajit Bhattacharyya, seek quashing of the Constitutional Amendment Bill on the ground that it severely affects and damages the basic structure of the Constitution viz the independence of the judiciary and accords unbridled power to Parliament.

Earlier, this month, Parliament passed two bills to scrap the collegium system for appointments in higher judiciary and to provide a new mechanism in its place.