NEW DELHI: The Centre has once again stressed that there is a need to set up a secretariat and mechanism to deal with complaints in the Supreme Court for bringing transparency in appointments to constitutional courts.

Law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, while responding to a question in Lok Sabha on Friday, said the government has written to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) emphasising the need to finalise the memorandum of procedure (MoP) making the system of appointment of judges more transparent.
The draft MoP, which was revised after the Constitution bench of the SC annulled the National Judicial Appointments Commission in October 2015, has been pending finalisation since March 2016, when the law ministry had sent the draft MoP to the CJI for the first time.

The revised MoP provides guidelines on eligibility criteria, transparency, establishment of secretariat and mechanism to deal with complaints. However, the apex court had repeatedly sent it for revision raising certain objections.
“In order to ensure transparency in appointment procedure, the government emphasised the need for a more robust evaluation process by setting up a search-cum-evaluation committee,” Meghwal said.
He said in its recent communication dated January 6, 2023 to the CJI, the government emphasised the need to finalise the MoP in view of various judicial pronouncements. “In the letter, the government again requested the SC to consider various suggestions sent by the government from time to time for making the system more transparent, fair, representative and accountable,” Meghwal said.
He reminded that the NJAC Act was enacted “to make the Collegium system of appointments of judges more broad-based, transparent, accountable and for bringing objectivity in the system.”
Meghwal said the draft MoPs were sent to the CJI five times, the last one on January 6, conveying the government’s stand with suggestions to resolve issues in appointments.