India: Judicial Independence and the Appointment of Judges
A transcript of DAKSH’s Fourth Annual Constitution Day Lecture
The Fourth Annual Constitution Day Lecture hosted by DAKSH at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) Auditorium on Saturday, 28 November, 2015, was a gathering of members from the legal community, students, and citizens interested in governance.
The lecture was delivered by Mr Raju Ramachandran, Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India. Mr Ramachandran is an eminent lawyer and a former Additional Solicitor General of India. Mr Ramachandran spoke on the topic of ‘Judicial Independence and the Appointment of Judges’, in light of the recent NJAC judgement. The transcript of Mr. Ramachandran’s lecture is as follows.
( December 24, 2015, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) In 1951, one year after we the people gave ourselves this Constitution, Jawaharlal Nehru said, ‘This magnificent Constitution that we have framed has been kidnapped and purloined by lawyers.’ When he says lawyers, he meant lawyers and judges. He meant the robed fraternity. Many kidnappings and purloins [sic] have happened since then. But, the most egregious kidnapping in recent times happened on 16th of October this year when the Supreme Court struck down the Constitution’s 99th amendment and the NJAC Act, which tried to bring in a new constitutional regime governing the appointment of judges.
