The Supreme Court today reserved its judgment on the admissibility of a batch of PILs challenging the constitutional validity of the proposed National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) to replace the present collegium system of appointment of judges to the SC and high courts.

A Bench headed by Justice Anil R Dave reserved the verdict after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi contended that the PILs were premature and could be entertained by the court only after the NJAC was put in place and made operational.

Arguing for the government, Rohatgi said by and large there was a consensus on the need for replacing the collegium system, which had outlived its utility after being in operation for about 23 years, with a broad-based commission.

The only difference of opinion was on the composition of the proposed commission, particularly on the number of its members, and the need for giving veto power to its members, he pleaded.

The Attorney General also said the SC had no power to question or go into the procedure adopted by Parliament for passing the Constitution amendment Bill and the NJAC Bill. What the SC should be bothered about was the final product that had become operational, not the procedure which only Parliament could decide.

Rohatgi was making this point in response to the petitioners’ plea that the government could have introduced the NJAC Bill in Parliament only after acquiring the power to do so by amending the Constitution to scrap the collegium system.

Among the PIL petitioners are the SC Advocates-on-Record Association and the Bar Association of India which were against the NJAC and the SC Bar Association which was in support of the judicial panel that would have six members — Chief Justice of India, two senior most SC judges, Law Minister and two eminent persons.

Any move to appoint a judge could be vetoed by any of the two NJAC members, while the two eminent persons would be chosen for a three-year term by a panel comprising the CJI, the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition/single largest party among the opposition in the Lok Sabha.