Chandigarh, November 3
The government apparently wants to have a greater say in the appointment of judges. The Union Law Ministry, in fact, wants the government to be given powers to “suggest outstanding lawyers and jurists” for elevation as judges.
The suggestions form a part of the “vision statement” presented to Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan by Union minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily during the “National consultation for strengthening the judiciary towards reducing pendency and delays”. The conference was held at Vigyan Bhawan at New Delhi.
It has also been suggested “there should be lucid and comprehensive guidelines, which the collegium should follow in the matter of selection of judges; the executive and the legislature must take the initiative in recommending the best possible talent for selection to the judiciary; and the collegium should be given a timeline to clear the backlog in the vacancies”.
The other suggestions on filling up the vacancies in the judiciary include: “The government and the collegium should work hand-in-hand, while appointing the judges, so that the difference between the two does not lead to delay in appointment”.
Explaining the need for making the recommendations, the “statement” says the increased number of members of the collegiums has made the consultation process cumbersome and, hence, there is a delay
in the selection and elevation of judges.
Also, there are no guidelines dealing with situations of a deadlock or lack of consensus among the members of the collegium, or dealing with situations where the majority members of the collegium disagree with the Chief Justice of India.
Quoting statistics, the “statement” says the combined strength of all high courts in the country is 886 judges, but the actual working strength is 652 judges, leading to a deficit of 234 judges.
In the Supreme Court itself, there were seven vacancies out of a sanctioned strength of 31. Besides this, around 2,998 vacancies existed among 16,721 judicial posts in the district and the subordinate courts. “As a result of the backlog in the filling up of the vacancies the number of pending cases has increased, and even urgent petitions take several years before being finally heard and adjudicated rendering them infructuous”, the “statement” asserts.
