National Judicial Appointments Commission

The National Judicial Appointments Commission was a six-member body designed to replace the collegium in appointments and transfers of judges of the higher judiciary. It was created by the Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014 and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014, but the Supreme Court invalidated both in 2015 for damaging judicial independence.

Composition and constitutional concern

Under Article 124A, the Commission comprised the Chief Justice of India, two senior-most Supreme Court judges, the Union Law Minister and two eminent persons. Thus, judicial members constituted only half of the Commission, while the NJAC Act allowed any two members to block a recommendation.

• The majority found that the presence of the Law Minister and the blocking power available to non-judicial members created insufficient safeguards against executive or political influence.
• The new arrangement displaced the primacy of the judiciary in appointments to the Supreme Court and High Courts.

Grounds of invalidation

In Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India, 2015, a Constitution Bench struck down the amendment by a 4:1 majority. Applying the basic structure doctrine, the majority held that judicial independence, including adequate judicial primacy in appointments, could not be impaired even by a constitutional amendment.

• The Court considered the amendment's composition and appointment process incompatible with the independence of the judiciary and separation of powers.
• Because the constitutional foundation of the NJAC failed, the accompanying NJAC Act, 2014 was also invalidated.

Effect and significance

The judgment revived the collegium system governing higher judicial appointments. It did not establish that every appointments commission is inherently unconstitutional; its central objection was that this particular design failed to preserve the safeguards required by India's basic structure.

• Justice J. Chelameswar dissented, emphasizing deficiencies such as opacity in the collegium system.