Prelims Perspective: What needs to be learned

• How are judges appointed to the High Court(HC) and Supreme Court(SC).
• The grounds and procedure for the removal of judges.

What needs to be known?

• Judges Appointment
  • How is it done? The appointment of judges is by the collegium system.  The Collegium consists of the Chief Justice of India and four senior-most judges in the SC, and the Chief Justice of HC and two senior-most judges in the HC. 
  • Who appoints: The president of India appoints the judges (Article 124 for SC and Article 217 for HC) who are approved by the government based on collegium recommendation. 
  • Is the collegium recommendation compulsory? The government can ask for clarification from the collegium once, but if the collegium sticks with its decision, the government has to abide by it and complete the appointment.
  • Is the collegium mechanism constitutional? The collegium system has evolved through ‘Judges cases’ and no specific provisions available in the constitution.
• Judges Removal
  • On what grounds: The judges can be removed in both SC and HC for proven misbehaviour or incapacity.
  • Who can initiate: The removal process can be initiated based on the recommendation of 100 Lok Sabha members or 50 Rajya Sabha after which the speaker/chairperson decides whether to accept.
  • The procedure: The president of India gives assent after the motion for removal is passed by a special majority in both houses of parliament.
• Trivia: No judge has been removed either from HC or SC, even though the process has been initiated.

Source: The Indian Express