A gradual erosion of independence is the most serious challenge facing the Indian judiciary, activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan has claimed.
Delivering a lecture here on Saturday, he said “the lure of post-retirement jobs” influencing “pre-retirement judgments” had been there for long.
Another problem affecting the independence of the judiciary was the government’s role in appointing judges. “The present government has adopted a new system to make a mockery of the collegium system to appoint judges. The collegium makes a recommendation, let’s say of 10 judges. The government likes only three of them, and they will issue a notification about the three and keep the other names pending. Sometimes for several years. When the Chief Justice of India [CJI] follows it up with the government, eventually, they are sent back saying these names are not acceptable,” Mr. Bhushan said.
