In Sua Causa

What the judiciary has done to itself.

- Atul Dev

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Narendra Modi’s arrival in the prime minister’s office in 2014 heralded tense days for the Indian judiciary. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto had pledged to “set up a National Judicial Commission for the appointment of judges in higher judiciary.” Within months of the party taking power, both houses of parliament passed the ninety-ninth amendment to the Constitution, to create the National Judicial Appointments Commission. By the end of the year, it was ratified by 16 state legislatures, signed by the president and enshrined in law.

The NJAC, as envisioned, was to have six members, entrusted with control over appointments to the Supreme Court as well as appointments and transfers in all high courts. Led by the Chief Justice of India, it was to include the second and third most senior judges of the Supreme Court, the law minister, and two “eminent persons” nominated by a panel of the chief justice, the prime minister and the leader of the opposition. One of these persons was to either be a woman, or belong to a religious minority, scheduled caste or scheduled tribe.