The first major judgement concerning judicial appointments, known as the First Judges case is pronounced. The judgement says that the executive has an upper hand in making appointments. This question is reopened a few years later, in what becomes known as the Second Judges case. A new system is born, in which judges appoint judges. They have the upper hand in making appointments. It is called the “collegium” system and only requires a formal nod from the government. This system has its own flaws. Several governments try to reform this system in the years to come. 

Reference

A list of archival resources used to research this episode can be found here. 

• News clip of Indira Gandhi’s campaign trail- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xq6cBB6wu8 

• Justice V Ramaswamy Impeachment case-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyzAV6AD9w0 

• Justice Bhagwati on Judicial corruption and appointment of judges- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFOPVABSjnk 

• Republic day parade 26th January 2000- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p75IT4_8xg 

• Saviour of Karunanidhi- https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/saviour-of-karunanidhi/cid/162710 

• News clip of Shri Arun Jaitley in Rajya Sabha- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTzmM6iOtRc 

• News clips of Katju’s allegation- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLKI_0phBw8) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qqmweSMWbQ  

Transcript: https://www.anildivanfoundation.org/episode7 

Credits

Host:  Raghu Karnad

Guests: Abhinav Chandrachud, Alok Prasanna Kumar, Dushyant Dave, Kailash Vasdev, Kamini Jaiswal, Kapil Sibal, Krishan Mahajan, Prashant Kumar, Santosh Paul

Research Manager:  Ramya Boddupalli

Legal Researcher: Vipinn Mittaal

Scriptwriter: Ramya Boddupalli 

Script editor: Bhavya Dore

Fact checker: Vipinn Mittaal

Advisors: Lawrence Liang, Ranvir Singh, Shyam Divan and Vivek Divan

Head of Production: Shaun Fanthome

Creative Director: Mae Mariyam Thomas 

Production Assistant: Sakshi Nair

Sound Design & Mix: Kartik Kulkarni

Sound Editor & Music Supervisor: Lakshman Parsuram 

Graphic Designer: Sephin Alexander