“We have a chart here detailing the list of Collegium recommendations for appointments and transfers”.
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At a time when courts in India are clogged with crores of long-pending cases, the conflict between the Government and the judiciary over appointment of judges has resulted in 43 percent vacancy of judges in the high courts across the country, Bureaucracy Today has learnt.
The court also sought to improve the functioning of the collegium, which recommends the names of judges to the government.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who was present in the court room in connection with some other case, intervened and assured the court that the government’s response would be filed in a week’s time. Tell us where the files are.
The Supreme Court lashed out at the government on Friday for allegedly stalling high court judges’ appointment and threatened to pass orders to clear the “logjam”, potentially triggering the latest episode in a string of clashes between the executive and judiciary. Thakur accused the government of “sitting over” judges appointments and added, “Tell us where the files are”.
During the brief hearing, the bench referred to the rising vacancies of judges in the high courts and the increasing number of pending cases. “This is some kind of a logjam and this whole situation is getting very hard”, Chief Justice Thakur said.
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Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad recently informed Parliament that the draft MoP for judicial appointments has been reverted to the Collegium.
