India, Oct. 27 -- The collegium system was evolved to insulate judicial appointments from executive interference, but three decades after the Supreme Court gave judges primacy in selecting their successors, it remains vulnerable to opacity, inconsistent procedures, and the concentration of power in the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Former Supreme Court judge Sanjay Kishan Kaul's memoir, Without Fear or Favour, offers a candid account of these fault lines, including the pressure exerted by the government and the difficulty of reconciling institutional independence with accountability.

Justice Kaul's assertion that "it is fantasy to imagine that the collegium is isolated from political pressures" goes to the heart of the problem. He traces...