Collegium should include President’s nominee, Attorney General: Retired Justice Pankaj Mithal

The Supreme Court collegium should be expanded to include a nominee of the President of India, the Attorney General for India and an independent constitutional functionary to improve transparency and restore public confidence in judicial appointments, former Supreme Court Justice Pankaj Mithal said on Thursday..Speaking in Hindi, at the fifth edition of Nyay Nirman @ 2047: Building the Legal Architecture of India’s Global Future, Justice Mithal said reform of the judicial appointments process was among the most urgent changes required as India looks towards becoming a developed nation by 2047. “However, we must candidly acknowledge that the Collegium system is an extra-constitutional authority that we created. While it was established with good intentions, it now requires substantial improvement,” he said..Justice Mithal proposed expanding the Supreme Court collegium to seven members. Apart from judges, he said, the sixth member could be an eminent person nominated by the President or the Attorney General for India, who represents both the bar and the government.The seventh member could be a distinguished constitutional post-holder nominated by the President, such as the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), he suggested. He said, “If a seven-member body sits together and makes selections, public confidence in the appointment process will be substantially restored. People will feel that the process is inclusive, that the Bar has a voice, and that independent constitutional authorities are contributing alongside the senior judiciary.”.Justice Mithal said the Law Ministry, Supreme Court and other stakeholders should seriously deliberate on the proposal.He also called for parity in the retirement ages of High Court and Supreme Court judges by fixing both at 65 years.Justice Mithal further questioned the practice of appointing Chief Justices of High Courts for very short tenures.“Appointing someone as a Chief Justice just ahead of retirement to confer post-retirement benefits is not a sound practice,” he said..Former Supreme Court Justice Hima Kohli also spoke at the event.She referred to the withdrawal of retrospective tax demands in 2021 as an example of course correction that could restore confidence in the legal system. She also cited the Supreme Court’s seven-judge bench ruling that non-stamping of an arbitration agreement was a curable defect and did not render the arbitration clause void. “What is significant here is not merely the shift in view, but that the conflict was resolved by a larger Bench within a relatively short period, restoring commercial certainty,” she said/Justice Kohli also cautioned against allowing artificial intelligence to substitute human judicial reasoning. “Technology must remain an aid to judicial reasoning, never a replacement for human judgment,” she underscored..The event was organised by the General Counsel Association of India (GCAI) led by co-founders Sanjeev Gemawat and Akhil Prasad..Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs and Road Transport Harsh Malhotra, Legislative Department Secretary Rajiv Mani, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Law and Justice Manoj Kumar and Society of Indian Law Firms President Lalit Bhasin also addressed the gathering.