NJAC Has Component Of Hit And Trial, Says Government

NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi government told the Supreme Court that the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) for appointments to higher judiciary had a component of a "hit and trial" experiment for finding the best people for the posts.

Contending that there was an element of uncertainty in every new experiment, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the constitution bench of Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice J. Chelameswar, Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel that similarly there was "hit and trial" component in the NJAC.

Urging the court that the NJAC should be given a chance to have its run before being subjected to any critical evaluation, Rohatgi said "God knows" what would eventually emerge from it in terms of selection of judges.

But the court was not convinced.

"Only problem is that we can`t leave it to God. It is not a hit and trial business," the court told Rohatgi reminding him that it was too serious an issue to be left to "hit and trial" or "God".

At this, Rohatgi said: "If there could be hit and trial for democracy, hit and trial for secularism, hit and trial for federalism, then why not judiciary. Hit and trial is a part of democracy."

Attacking the collegium system of appointment as being devoid of "transparency, rules and guidelines and something happening in a closed room away from sunlight", he however said the blame for the system`s failure lay at the doorsteps of the government, but sought to know if this still prevented the parliament from putting in place a "broad-based, healthier, transparent" NJAC.

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