Open Forum
New Delhi, 12
December 2018
Judicial Appointments
CENTRE PROMPT, STATES SLOW
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
It is gratifying to
note that in recent months the Centre has been quite prompt in clearing appointment
of judges. Lately 34 judges were appointed in six High Courts with Allahabad High
Court alone getting 28 judges. In fact, the NDA government may have set a
record of sorts with the appointment of over 100 judges to High Courts so far compared
to 117 in 2017. In contrast the number of judges appointed to High Courts every
year since 1989 to 2014 hovered between 75 and 89.
The vacancies in
these courts have now come down to around 25 per cent with a steady increment
in the number of judges. However, it needs to be mentioned, the Supreme Court
had in December 2015 asked the Centre to firm up a Memorandum of Procedure for
streamlining appointment of judges, power for which was snatched from the Executive
by the judiciary through two judgements of 1990s. However, till date the MoP
has not yet been finalised despite three Chief Justices retiring since 2015,
thus revealing half-heartedness of New Delhi.
More than a decade
after the Supreme Court laid down guidelines in 2007 for making appointments in
the lower judiciary within a set time frame, a similar issue is back before the
highest court. The immediate context is shockingly the existence of more than
5000 vacancies in the subordinate courts. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of
India Ranjan Gogoi recently pulled up the State governments and the
administration of various High Courts across the country for the delay in
filling these vacancies. Answers provided in the Rajya Sabha reveal that as on
March 31, 2018, nearly a quarter of the total number of posts in the
subordinate courts remained vacant!
The State-wise
figures are quite alarming too, with Uttar Pradesh having a vacancy percentage
of 42.18 and Bihar 37.23. Among the smaller States, Meghalaya has
a vacancy level of 59.79 per cent. The reasons for this may be attributed to
utter tardiness in the process of calling for applications, holding recruitment
examinations and declaring the results, and, more significantly finding the
funds to pay and accommodate the newly-appointed judges and magistrates.
Besides, the State Public Service Commissions have not come forward to recruit
the staff to assist these judges, while State governments build courts or
identify space for these.
A study released last
year by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy revealed that the recruitment cycle
in most States far exceeded the time limit prescribed by the Supreme Court. This time the limit
is 153 days for a two-tier recruitment process and 273 days for a three-tier
process. Most States took longer to appoint junior civil judges as well as
district judges by direct recruitment as subordinate courts perform the most
critical judicial functions
The Centre proposed
an all-India examination to fill up over 23 per cent vacancies in posts of
trial court judges. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court asked the High Courts to take
prompt action in this regard to expedite filling up of 5133 vacant posts out of
a total of over 22,000 judicial officers across India. CJI Gogoi’s priority to
reduce pendency and cut down delay in dispensation of justice found expression
in his recent video conference with Chief Justices and senior judges of High Courts
when he had outlined that judges should not take leave or attend seminars and
government functions on working days.
The apex court asked
whether the infrastructure and manpower available in different States was
adequate and if “all the posts that are borne in the cadre are to be filled
up”. The meant the Supreme Court was asking the High Courts and the State
governments to give a projection of the additional manpower and infrastructure
required to tackle the huge pendency, so that a clear road-map could be drawn.
One may mention here
that the apex court recently ticked off States such as Karnataka, West Bengal
and Kerala for their poor infrastructure. Special mention may be made of the
Court’s hard knock to Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal as it said:”When the need is for
construction of 422 court halls and 630 residences for judicial officers, the State
is moving at snail pace for 75 court halls and 39 residences”.
With over 45 lakh
cases pending in the High Courts, it remains to be seen how much of the
pendency will be tackled in the coming year. But while the Centre has shown
promptness in appointments in the last two years and the present Chief Justice is
very serious about the matter, the prospects seem encouraging if the vacancies
in the lower courts are filled up within a reasonable span of time.
Meanwhile, seeking to
arrest the trend of never-ending criminal trials of politicians, the apex court
asked High Courts to allocate the pending 4122 criminal cases against them to adequate
number of sessions and magisterial courts – in each of the 440 districts -- for
expeditious completion of trials. Records reveal that there are 990 cases
pending against sitting and former MPs and MLAs across the country, with Odisha
having 331 cases, Kerala (323 cases), Bihar (304 cases) and West Bengal (262
cases). Charges are yet to be framed in 1991 cases and 430 cases involving
offences punishable with death/life sentence are pending against 180 sitting
legislators and former legislators.
Thus, at this
juncture there is need for all State governments and the Centre to provide all
necessary facilities, including infrastructural support and personnel, to the
judiciary. Personnel and infrastructure at the sub-divisional and district
courts have to be provided to allow justice to be expedited and bring down the
pendency of cases. This would help to percolate justice down to the grass-root
level and help provide some succour to peoples who are entangled in lengthy
legal cases.
It goes without
saying that strengthening of the judiciary by providing better infrastructure
and recruitment of personnel at all levels is imperative. This is all the more
necessary as the judiciary undeniably has been playing a crucial role in
attending to people’s problems and meting out social and economic justice,
though it does take time. Nevertheless, the Indian judicial process has been
playing a pivotal role in strengthening the democratic process and can be said
to have been viewed by many of being the last solace of the citizens.---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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