Chandrachud slams allegations against collegium system

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Monday rubbished the allegation about lack of transparency in the collegium system where judges appoint judges to constitutional courts and desisted from responding to criticism of the Supreme Court judgement upholding the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution that bestowed special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

In a candid interview with PTI, the 50th CJI responded to questions on several issues pertaining to the judiciary, including the criticism of the Supreme Court verdict upholding the abrogation of Article 370 and the five-judge constitution bench judgement refusing to legalise samesex marriage.

Justice Chandrachud also dealt with questions about criticism by eminent lawyers on the allocation of cases to particular judges and 'bench hunting', and said the allocation of cases is not "lawyer-driven" and vowed to maintain the credibility of the institution of the Supreme Court.

"I am very very clear in my mind that if the credibility of the institution of the Supreme Court is to be maintained, we have to ensure that the allocation of cases in the Supreme Court is not going to be a lawyerdriven allocation," he said.

Justice Chandrachud's response assumes significance as only a few days ago Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, since retired, had told PTI that there was a problem with the collegium system and it will be "unrealistic" to say it is working smoothly. (PTI)