Collegium meetings should be recorded, says senior judge and member of the body
Citing lack of transparency, Justice J Chelameswar has informed Chief Justice of India TS Thakur that he will not be attending future meetings.
Justice J Chelameswar, who is a member of the Supreme Court collegium, has told Chief Justice of India TS Thakur that the meetings of the five-member body that is responsible for appointments and transfers of judges should be recorded, reported The Indian Express. Chelameswar has written a letter to Thakur informing him that he will not attend future meetings of the collegium citing lack of transparency as the reason for his decision, according to Economic Times.
According to the senior apex court judge, the other members of the collegium, including Thakur, should send their recommendations to him in writing to seek his views. Following the letter, a meeting that was scheduled for Wednesday was postponed. At the meeting, the collegium was meant to discuss the revised Memorandum of Procedure for appointment of judges that has been a bone of contention between the judiciary and the executive since a Constitution Bench struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission last year.
Chelameswar was the only member of the judiciary who had then held that though the final decision on appointments may rest with the judges, it will not be fair to completely exclude the central government from the process. Justice Chelameswar will retire in June 2018.