The Informal Constitution Unwritten Criteria in Selecting Judges for the Supreme Court of India

Author: Abhinav Chandrachud
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198098560
Published In: June 2014
Format: Hardback , 336 pages
Jurisdiction: India ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Description
Contents
Author

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There is no book of this kind that comprehensively discusses the process of appointment of judges to the Supreme Court of India.
The basis of the book are interviews personally conducted by the author with 29 former judges of the Supreme Court of India.
The book is an empirical study of judicial appointments made to the Supreme Court of India since Independence.
The central thesis of the book is that there are three informal criteria which are used for appointing judges to the court: age, seniority, and diversity.
The book is of great contemporary relevance, given the fact that in recent times, the credibility of the judiciary as an institution has come in question even more.
The book is well written and coherent with rich analyses of case law and other developments relating to the process of judicial appointments.

Between 1950 and 2009, 189 judges (including 37 Chief Justices) served on the Supreme Court of India, dubbed one of the world's most powerful courts. Not enough is known of who these judges were and the criteria that were used to select them for the court, especially of those who served on the court in relatively recent times. Broadly speaking, the Indian constitution formally provides that three types of individuals can be appointed to the Supreme Court: (1) High Court judges of five years' standing, (2) High Court lawyers of ten years' standing, or (3) "distinguished jurists", i.e. law professors or others. However, this says very little, perhaps nothing, about the kind of candidates that are selected for appointment to the court. Informal norms have evolved over a period of sixty years which co-exist alongside formal constitutional rules-norms that govern who will be considered fit and eligible for appointment to the Supreme Court of India. In this study, the author has aimed to quantitatively and qualitatively demonstrate that three informal eligibility criteria in particular are used to select judges for the Supreme Court of India, i.e. criteria that have not been formally specified in any constitutional document: (1) a judge should be of the age of 55 or above at the time he is considered for appointment to the Supreme Court, (2) he should be a senior High Court judge or, especially over the last twenty years, a High Court Chief Justice, (3) judges should reflect the geographic (and demographic) diversity of India, i.e. judges are selected for the Supreme Court by taking into account the state or region they belong to, and whether they belong to non-traditional backgrounds, i.e. in terms of religion, caste, or gender.

Readership: Primary market: Institutional libraries and institutions/organizations The primary market for this book will be libraries of courts, judicial academies, legal & para legal institutions etc. Governement organizations, research organizations or any other organization/institution working in the area of the judiciary or comparative constitutional law will also find this book useful. Secondary market: Judges, professionals, researchers Apart from institutions, this book will be beneficial for judges and advocates, as well as teachers and students of law. Scholars and individuals associated with the disciplines of sociology, political science, along with general readers will also benefit from this book.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1: Historical Background
2: The Judges Cases
3: Age of Appointment
4: Seniority
5: Diversity
Conclusion
Appendix
Index