Supreme Court dismisses plea seeking independent panel to select judges

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking an independent panel to select judges for the higher judiciary.

Dismissing the plea, a bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit said what is being sought would amount to amending the Constitution, and the Supreme Court could not do this.

The petition, moved by the National Lawyers Campaign for Judicial Transparency had sought a fair, open and non-discriminatory selection process for the appointment of judges from a wider pool of candidates.

The counsel argued that judges' relatives are being inducted into the higher judiciary.

At one stage, as the pitch of the argument of the counsel for the petitioner organisation became too high, the bench asked him if he is addressing the court or the gallery at the back of the court room, where the media persons were seated.