“There is no blame game”. There is no logjam in the system. Terming the situation in the Allahabad High Court as “alarming”, the Attorney General said judges’ appointment “is like a race. if you start in time you reach in time”.
Advertisement
The CBI informed a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice A M Khanwilkar that only 8-10% of the almost 31 lakh NGOs had filed their accounts with Registrar of Societies (RoS) detailing receipt and spending of funds.
As he sought two weeks time to report on further progress, the court directed the listening of matter on September 30.
He placed before the bench two sets of documents in sealed envelopes containing a compilation of facts and figures on the appointment and transfer of judges.
The Centre blamed the HCs over the delay in the appointment of judges after the CJI-headed Bench on August 12 rebuked the Government for holding up recommendations forwarded by the SC collegium. However, high courts, by and large, are late in starting the process of filling up vacancies.
Rohatgi told the bench that recommendation for appointments for Allahabad, Chhattisgarh and Kerala High Courts have been cleared. Do not attribute the delays to us. “It has to move forward as it should not be stalled”.
At this, Chief Justice Thakur said that with eight judges, Chhattisgarh High Court was functioning with one third of its sanctioned strength being vacant.
Amidst the raging debate on the delay in appointment of judges, leading to increased pendency of cases, the Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that there is “no blame game” or “logjam” in appointment and transfer of judges of higher judiciary.
Contrary to India’s judiciary’s view to include more judges, Chairman of Law Commission of India Justice Balbir Singh Chauhan said that India needs more “working judges” than increasing strength of judges.
The CJI told the AG “it is an arduous process after which the recommendations come to us”.
Advertisement
In a PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi defended the Central government by saying that judicial appointments were the topmost priority for the executive, and that files were being processed to get the appointments made as fast as possible. By November this year, four more judges will retire from the Supreme Court. “Section 63 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, envisages that every State shall establish a body to be known as the Lokayukta within a period of one year from the date of commencement of the Act, however, many States have not done so till date”.
