Upendra Baxi

JGLS Sonepat has hired Prof Upendra Baxi, Prof BS Chimni, Prof Mahendra Pal Singh, and Prof BB Pande as professors who will teach and conduct research at the law school full-time.

Professor Upendra Baxi, in a comment to Legally India, had expressed his surprise how his name appears in the list of those who made proposals for reforming the Collegium, compiled by Supreme Court appointed committee comprising senior advocate, Arvind Datar and ASG, Pinky Anand, as he had not submitted any such proposal. Prof Baxi was also surprised that his so-called proposal was also shown not contributing to any of the five categories, identified by the Court and the Committee, namely, Collegium Secretariat, Eligibility Criteria, Transparency, Mechanism to deal with complaints and Miscellaneous.

The report submitted to the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench by Senior Advocate Arvind Datar and ASG, Pinky Anand on the neo-collegium received over 60 representations and suggestions from various associations and individuals.

At a discussion on the Supreme Court’s recent judgment quashing the 99th Amendment Act and the NJAC Act, eminent academic, Professor Upendra Baxi, defended the judgment, but expected nothing much to come out of the ongoing hearing on reforming the collegium.

The central government and its law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad are set to meet in Delhi with a number of advocates today, to discuss the shape of a constitutional amendment on judicial appointments, reported the Times of India.

The panel to give feedback on a possible change to the collegium system includes “former CJIs AM Ahmadi, AS Anand, VN Khare and RC Lahoti; former AGs K Parasaran, Soli Sorabjee and Ashok Desai; eminent lawyers Fali Nariman, Shanti Bhushan, Anil Divan, KK Venugopal and Harish Salve; eminent jurists NR Madhava Menon and Upendra Baxi [and] attorney general Mukul Rohatgi and solicitor general Ranjit Kumar,” according to the TOI.

The previous government's draft Judicial Appointments Commission Bill proposed a panel of the CJI and two Supreme Court judges, the law minister as well as two eminent citizens, who will be nominated by the prime minister, the CJI and the Lok Sabha's Leader of the Opposition - a position currently unfilled.