Former Attorney General Rohatgi Calls for Judicial Reforms in Appointments and Removals

Speedy Summary

• Former Attorney General of India, Mukul Rohatgi, called for an overhaul of india’s judiciary systems.
• He emphasized the need to reform judicial appointments, discipline mechanisms, and removal processes.
• Rohatgi highlighted that the current impeachment process for judges is overly complex and failed to result in a single prosperous impeachment in 75 years.
• He criticized the lack of clarity in the judicial appointment process, where judges appoint other judges.
• The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), introduced by the government to improve transparency, was struck down by the Supreme Court to maintain its control over appointments.
• Rohatgi proposed involving external stakeholders like jurists, artists, public figures, and opposition leaders in judicial appointments for balance and openness.
• He also critiqued practices like a small group controlling judge assignments across High Courts and called for inclusivity and accountability.
• To simplify removals and enhance efficiency transparently, he urged Parliament and judiciary collaboration with relevant stakeholders.

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Indian Opinion Analysis

Mukul Rohatgi’s remarks underline critical issues of systemic opacity within India’s judiciary-notably concerning judge appointments thru collegium consensus-and highlight longstanding challenges such as inefficient removal processes via impeachment. His critique reflects demands for greater public trust through broader stakeholder involvement in decision-making beyond judiciary confines; this raises potential constitutional debates around separation of powers versus government influence.

Rohatgi’s comments also suggest that previous reforms like NJAC faced resistance due to tensions between executive oversight aspirations versus institutional independence maintained by courts currently self-governed via collegium protocols since NJAC’s undoing invites reevaluation frameworks solving procedural bottleneck restructuring angles transparently optimizing checks/balances achieving confidence restoration goals nation judiciary goodwill