About:

• Articles 124(2) and 217 of the Constitution governs the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts respectively.
  
  
• Under both provisions, the President has the power to make the appointments “after consultation with such of the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts in the States as the President may deem necessary”.
  
  

Three Judges Cases

• In three cases — which came to be known as the Judges Cases — in 1981, 1993 and 1998, the Supreme Court evolved the collegium system for appointing judges.
  
  
• A group of senior Supreme Court judges headed by the CJI would make recommendations to the President on who should be appointed.
  
  
• These rulings not only shrank the executive say in proposing a candidate for judgeship, but also took away the executive’s veto power.
  
  

National Judicial Appointments Commission

• In 2014, the NDA government attempted to claw back control on judicial appointments by establishing the National Judicial Appointments Commission through constitutional amendments.
  
  
• Although the law, which gave the executive a greater foot in the door in appointments, had support across political parties, the Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional.