Petition asks the Supreme Court to finalise the judges' appointment memorandum and open Collegium decisions to RTI

2 November 2026

The non-governmental organisation Lok Prahari has moved the Supreme Court on how judges are appointed to the higher judiciary.
The petition asks that the Memorandum of Procedure be revised as the 2015 verdict on the National Judicial Appointments Commission required, and that the Law and Justice Ministry finalise it within a month after consulting the Chief Justice of India.
It also seeks that appointments rest on a unanimous view of the Collegium and that Collegium decisions be brought within the Right to Information Act.
The petition argues that the present memorandum lacks transparency and objectivity, which affects the quality of judges and a litigant's right to justice.
The Memorandum of Procedure lays down the steps for appointing judges to the High Courts and the Supreme Court, and was first drawn up in 1999 following the Supreme Court's directions in the Second Judges Case.
Parliament had enacted the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act in 2015 to replace the Collegium with a commission of judges and government representatives, but a Constitution Bench struck it down as violating judicial independence.
In December 2015 the Court left the task of amending the memorandum to the Union government.
When the matter came up, one of the two judges on the Bench recused himself because he had appeared in a similar case as Additional Solicitor General.