Supreme Court's verdict on National Judicial Appointments Commission Act is based on erroneous logic: Arun Jaitley

"The key rationale behind the majority opinion appears to be that independence of judiciary is an essential ingredient of the basic structure of the Constitution," Jaitley said in a Facebook post.

"This is unquestionably a correct proposition. Having stated this, the majority transgresses into an erroneous logic," he said.

In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court on Friday rejected a new law that gives the government more say in appointing judges and reinstated the age-old collegium system of judges, reports said.

A five-judge constitutional bench declared as "unconstitutional"  the National Judicial Appointments Commission that replaced the  collegium system of judges appointing judges in the Supreme Court and high courts.
The court said the two decades-old system of judges being appointed or transferred by a collegium - a group of five senior judges - would continue.

The constitutional bench had reserved its judgement on July 15 after hearing for r 31 days.

Petitions filed by a Supreme Court advocates' group among others had argue that the new law is unconstitutional and tramples the judiciary's independence by  giving the government a major role role in the selection of judges.

Defending itselft, the government had said that the collegium system where judges appointed judges was not free from defects.

During arguments before the Constitution bench, the government's top lawyer, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had said it is a myth that judges alone can decide on who is the best person to be a judge.