• The Supreme Court has struck down the constitution's 99th amendment and the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) Act as unconstitutional and void, restoring the collegium system for appointment of judges to the higher judiciary.
• The court rejected the prayer by the government for referring the matter to a larger bench for reconsideration of second judges (1993) and the third judges (1998) that had put in place the collegium system for the appointment of judges.
• The constitution amendment and National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act were brought to replace the 1993 collegium system for the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the high courts.
• The court sought suggestions from the bar for improved functioning of the collegium system.

About NJAC

• The NJAC was to make the appointment of high court and Supreme Court judges and chief justices more transparent.
• The NJAC was supposed to have 6 members, three from Judiciary comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) as its Chairperson and ex officio member and 2 other senior most judges of SC. While, other three members were Union Minister of Law and Justice (ex-officio) and 2 eminent persons.

Before NJAC

• Until the NJAC came along, Articles 124 and 217 of the Constitution dealt with the appointment of judges of the higher judiciary.
• These articles specifically said that judges would be appointed by the President of India after “consultation” with the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and other judges.
• The word “consultation” is significant because in 1993, in the so-called Second Judges case, the SC decided that the CJI must agree to all judicial appointments—a concept known as “concurrence”.
• This created the collegium system, wherein the three seniormost Supreme Court judges decided on who would be a high court or Supreme Court judge.