First Judges Case (1982)
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- The President of India is the final authority to appoint judges after consultation with the Chief Justice and other judges.
- Here the meaning of consultation does not mean concurrence and it only implies exchange exchange of views.
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Second Judges Case (1993)
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- SC introduced the Collegium system and changed the meaning of the word “consultation” to concurrence.
- It added that it was not the CJI’s individual opinion, but an institutional opinion formed in consultation with the two senior-most judges in the SC.
- Supreme Court limited the government’s discretion in the appointment of CJI by ruling that only the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court should be appointed as the Chief Justice of India.
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Third Judges Case (1998)
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- It expanded the Collegium system to a five-member body.
- Consultation process to be adopted by the Chief Justice Of India requires consultation of the four senior most colleagues instead of the earlier two.
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Fourth Judges Case (2015)
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- 99th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2014 and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act of 2014 have replaced the collegium system of appointing judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts by the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC).
- By Fourth Judges Case (1998), SC struck down NJAC and as a result, the earlier collegium system became operational again.
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