collegium system

The collegium system is a judicially evolved procedure for appointing and transferring judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts of India. It is not mentioned in the Constitution; Articles 124(2) and 217(1) merely provide that the President appoints judges "in consultation with" the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and other judges. The system was created through interpretation of the word "consultation" across three cases collectively called the Three Judges Cases. In S.P. Gupta v. Union of India (1981) — the First Judges Case — the Court held consultation did not mean concurrence, giving the executive primacy. This was overruled in the Second Judges Case (Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India, 1993), which held that the CJI's opinion, formed collectively, had primacy and that "consultation" effectively meant "concurrence." The Third Judges Case (1998), a Presidential Reference under Article 143, expanded the consulting body and laid down its composition.

Under the present arrangement, the Supreme Court collegium comprises the CJI and the four senior-most judges of the Court; for High Court appointments the CJI consults the two senior-most colleagues. High Court collegia consist of the Chief Justice of the High Court and two senior-most puisne judges, whose recommendations travel to the Supreme Court collegium. The Union government may return a recommendation once with objections, but if the collegium reiterates it unanimously, the appointment becomes binding on the executive — though the government's tactic of delaying notification of reiterated names remains a live friction point. Transfers of High Court judges and Chief Justices are also routed through this mechanism.

Parliament attempted to replace the system through the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2014 and the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014, which created a six-member body including the CJI, two senior judges, the Union Law Minister and two eminent persons. In Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India (2015) — the Fourth Judges Case — a five-judge Constitution Bench struck down both as violative of the basic structure doctrine, holding that judicial independence and primacy of the judiciary in appointments were inviolable. As of 2026 the collegium continues to operate, governed by a Memorandum of Procedure whose revision has remained unresolved between the judiciary and the executive. Critics, including the Law Commission and several parliamentary committees, fault it for opacity, nepotism, and the absence of fixed criteria.

For the UPSC examination this topic is central to the Indian Polity component of General Studies Paper II, under "Structure, organization and functioning of the Judiciary." Questions typically test the evolution across the three (now four) Judges Cases, the distinction between "consultation" and "concurrence," the NJAC verdict and its basic-structure reasoning, and the ongoing debate over reform versus judicial independence. Prelims questions probe the composition of the collegium and the relevant constitutional articles (124, 217, 222, 143), while Mains demands critical evaluation balancing accountability against autonomy.