AM Singhvi supports Supreme Court Collegium move against appointing judges' kin

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi has hailed Supreme Court Collegium's recent initiatives aimed at reforming the appointment process for judges to the Constitutional courts in India..According to news reports, the Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna recently decided that close kin of current or former judges shall not be appointed as judges of High Courts. The Collegium has also reportedly started interacting with the candidates recommended by different High Courts for elevation to the bench..In a tweet, Singhvi said both the proposals "seemingly radical, are good and should be implemented sooner rather than later"."Reality of judicial appointments is much murkier and much much more non objective than originally conceived. Mutual Back scratching, uncle judges, family lineages etc. demoralise others and bring disrepute to institution. But easier said than done: till now we are unable to even ban lawyer relatives practicing in same HC as judge relatives. Time and again the system has proved stronger than desirable impulses for reform (sic)," the senior counsel wrote..Singhvi, who is also a Member of Parliament (MP), recalled his earlier suggestion that Collegium judges as part of the evaluation process, should watch the candidates in action in courtrooms."I wrote decades ago that Collegium judges should disguise themselves and sit in courts of those judges being considered for elevation or lawyers in action before elevation. Like some sultans of old used to do in ancient times to learn what are the real problems of their fief (sic)," he said. .Welcoming the Collegium decision to interact with the candidates under consideration for judgeship, Singhvi said,"We would all be astonished (&scared) at the hiatus between cv &reality, between paper appraisal vs court performance. Interviews proposed now not as good as my suggestion but at least second best, though surprise checks in disguise not entirely unrealistic! (sic)".The Collegium, which recommends names for the judgeship, at present comprises CJI Khanna, Justices BR Gavai, Surya Kant, Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice Abhay S Oka.