# Judiciary overreach and the need for reform: NLC advocates for abolition of the collegium system
# Advocates for merit-based judicial appointments
New Delhi, 20th September 2024:
The National Lawyers’ Campaign for Judicial Transparency and Reforms organized an eagerly awaited press conference here at the Press Club of India, New Delhi today to highlight controversies surrounding India’s collegium system and the adverse impact it has on judicial appointments. The event, inaugurated by NLC President Mathews J Nedumpara, aimed to focus primarily on the urgent necessity for judicial reforms and the eliminating of the collegium system that the NLC perceives as a tool used to administer nepotism and strangle merit-based appointments to the higher judiciary.
The circumstances of the conference exposed the judiciary to be a “Supreme Legislature, Supreme Executive, and Supreme Judiciary,” which the founding fathers would have never visualized, according to Nedumpara’s speech.
“The misuse of Public Interest Litigation and collegium system has led the judiciary to overreach, and the balance of power in our democracy has been disturbed,” said Nedumpara. He also referred to the 99th Constitutional Amendment aimed at replacing the collegium system with a transparent judicial appointment mechanism. But the Supreme Court struck down the amendment.
The vice president of NLC, Dr. Chittoor Rajamannar, said the organization remained fully committed to transparency and fairness in the judicial system. “The collegium system has allowed the powerful and connected to occupy positions in the judiciary while deserving candidates from marginalized backgrounds are overlooked. This must change to restore faith in the justice system,” he said.
Discussion was held on NLC fresh Writ Petition instituted by NLC challenging the current process for judicial appointments, with Nedumpara confirming that the Supreme Court shall shortly hear the matter. The NLC underlined the need for public awareness of this and prayed the press conference would cast much-needed light into how dysfunctional is the current judicial structure.
The event ended with a collective appeal for sustained discussion and public debate on the topic. “We will continue to struggle for judicial reforms that bring back transparency, meritocracy, and fairness into the administration of justice,” Nedumpara added.