On Thursday, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, the Chief Justice of India, accepted to list a petition challenging the current collegium method for selecting judges for the Supreme Court and the High Courts. The petition essentially calls for a new process for appointing judges.

The main prayer of the petition is to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, directing the Union of India to bring into existence such legislative or administrative measures for the creation of a non-governmental/non-departmental public body, a judicial appointment commission which will be independent of both the executive and the judiciary to select judges for the higher judiciary by inviting applications from all eligible candidates, invite references from all stakeholders, the bar associations, the public at large, and above all to see that “judges are not only selected in a fair and open way but are seen by the public to have been chosen in the fairest possible wat taking nothing into account other than their merit and character”