Union Minister for External Affairs (MEA) and her team deserves all appreciation and compliments for getting Indian candidate Justice Dalveer Bhandari selected as judge in International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the British nominee. If there would have been a prize for best Union ministry or minister in India, then certainly MEA under ever-admiring Sushma Swaraj would have been an automatic winner. However perhaps very few may be aware that even though Indian government puts all its force for success of Indian candidate as a judge at International Court of Justice, but it has absolutely no say in deciding the Indian candidate. Rather candidate mooted by Indian government on last occasion was turned down by Indian National Group on the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), which is United Nations Observer. Certainly it is against principle of sovereignty of any democratically elected government that Indian government has no say in matters of Indian Nation Group of PCA which is the sole body to finalise Indian candidate for ICJ. It is time that Indian government may take up the matter with ICJ where Indian government may be the sole authority to select its candidate for ICJ.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
