Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Wednesday said the Supreme Court Collegium’s discussions among the five senior-most judges of the Supreme Court take place in an atmosphere of camaraderie and transparency.
In an informal chat with reporters at a high tea organised by the Supreme Court before the Diwali vacations, Chief Justice Chandrachud revealed that collegium may start off informally with judges discussing names but turn increasingly detailed and structured as talks proceed.
The Chief Justice said the latest collegium resolution to recommend Delhi High Court Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, Rajasthan Chief Justice Augustine George Masih, and Gauhati Chief justice Sandeep Mehta to take the Supreme Court to its full sanctioned judicial strength of 34 judges was finalised quickly.
He said the collegium poured over material, including judgments authored by the candidates, provided by a team of distinguished scholars, interns, and law researchers.
“We all look at the same judgments,” the Chief Justice said.
The collegium’s discussions, the Chief Justice indicated, proceeded in a methodical manner in which each of the five judges were given the same background material on candidates to go through.
In September, Chief Justice Chandrachud, while speaking at the Ram Jethmalani Memorial Lecture’s centenary edition, had said it was a “work in progress” to make the collegium system of judicial appointments “more transparent”.
