Bar bodies demand advisory board for SC

There should be an advisory body consisting of the law minister or his nominee or the Attorney General, BCI chairman or a member and the advocate general of the concerned state where the appointment has to be made.

MANAN KUMAR MISRA , Bar Council of India chairman

Bar bodies from across India have demanded that there should be an advisory board to assist the Supreme Court collegium in selection of judges. This unanimous decision was taken in a joint meeting on Friday of the office bearers of all state bar councils and Bar Council of India (BCI) — the apex disciplinary body of lawyers in the country.

“The unanimous view is that there should be an advisory body consisting the Union law minister or his nominee or the Attorney General, BCI chairman or a member and the advocate general of the concerned state where the appointment has to be made,” BCI chairman Manan Kumar Misra told HT.

Apart from these three, the participants were also of the view that there should be one people’s representative — an eminent jurist or a public leader or a person — in the advisory body. He or she shall be nominated by the joint meeting of the SC collegium and the advisory committee.

The BCI had called for the joint meeting subsequent to the SC’s historic order to initiate a public debate on the collegium system of appointing judges, seeking to improve the decades-old mechanism that was revived after a governmentbacked alternative was struck down last month.

A constitution bench had on November 6 asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to issue a public notice in the media seeking suggestions from lawyers, bar members, the public, the intelligentsia and other stakeholders on how to make the collegium system more transparent.

BCI too was permitted to submit its suggestions after consulting all the state bar councils and representatives of bar associations. Misra said that the BCI will consider the suggestions given to it during the meeting.