Judicial Appointments in India: Imperatives for Reforms

Indian Democracy setup consists of three structures i.e. Legislature, Executive and Judiciary and each structure has its set of powers, the doctrine of Basic structure gave separation of power in Supreme Court's judgment i.e. Kesavananda Bharti vs. State of Kerala, where the court held that no amendment can change the basic structure of Indian constitution, here the court also describe the basic structure. Here the central theme of the paper is Judiciary appointment and how it is related to one of the basic structure of Indian constitution, i.e. separation of power and independence of judiciary. Presently judges in supreme court are appointed by the way of collegiums system in which the collegiums, which developed by three judges’ decision which would be discussed in paper, consist of Chief justice and four other judges of supreme court, here the controversy first arose during Indira Gandhi's reign where Justice H.R Khanna was superseded by his junior for the post of Chief Justice, lack of transparency and say of executive in the appointment procedure is the major issue. The paper also deals with the J.A.C bill pending in parliament, which provides an alternative to this process and how this would lead to democratic reforms.