Assess govts’ performance through social audit: CJI

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 27

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice TS Thakur has said time has come when a social audit of the governments should be done so that their performance is assessed.

He was critical of the government at the Centre and state for taking too much time to go for such audit which is in the interest of the state and people.

Justice Thakur was speaking after inaugurating a state-level two-day workshop on “Workers in unorganised sector, their aspirations, challenges and way forward” organised by the J&K State Legal Service Authority (SLSA) here today.

“The J&K Government has collected Rs 350-crore cess that could be used for the benefit of the unorganised labour in different ways, but this amount has not been utilised so far, which is a matter of concern,” he said and called for the social audit of the government.

“When need for social audit of the government, be it at the Centre or state, arises, they (governments) go slow and don’t show any interest in processing it quickly. Time has come when governments’ performance be assessed through a social audit,” Justice Thakur added.

After being elevated as the CJI, Justice Thakur, who hails from Ramban district of the Jammu region, visited Jammu for the first time and participated in an event which was focused on the labour class of the society for whom he has been working since long.

He was also critical of the Union Government’s approach towards appointment of High Court judges. “The process of appointing High Court judges begins from the state where candidates are approved by a committee and gets nod from the Governor. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) also submits its report about the candidates and the file reaches a committee headed by the CJI. Two Supreme Court (SC) judges are also part of that committee and only clear names of deserving candidates. The file is then sent to the Union Ministry of Law for approval,” he said.

“I fail to understand why the government sits on this file when it passes through such a difficult process,” Justice Thakur added.

The Chief Justice of India also spoke on issues of drug menace and flesh trade and called for addressing them at the earliest. “As per reports, 67 per cent of youth in Punjab are taking drugs, which is a matter of great concern. This is spreading to different parts of the country and it is not a good sign. Another big concern is of flesh trade and it is our duty to work for the rehabilitation of sex workers,” he said.

Justice Thakur said J&K is a prosperous state and is almost free from issues like drug menace, flesh trade and others. “Whereas outside there are many problems and the National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) is working on six areas. These are unorganised workers, drug menace, flesh trade, human trafficking, child abuse and mental sickness,” he added.

Governor hosts ‘At Home’ for Justice TS Thakur 

Governor NN Vohra hosted an “At Home” for Justice TS Thakur, Chief Justice of India, at Raj Bhawan here on Saturday evening. Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifulla and Justice Anil R Dave, Judges of the Supreme Court of India; Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar, Chief Justice, J&K High Court; Judges of the J&K High Court; Parvez Dewan and Khurshid Ahmed Ganai, Advisers to the Governor; BR Sharma, Chief Secretary; BB Vyas, Financial Commissioner; RK Goyal, Principal Secretary, Home; Justice (retd) BA Khan, Chairman, State Accountability Commission; and members of the Commission; DC Raina, Advocate General; GR Sufi, Chief Information Commissioner; Kuldeep Khoda, Chief Vigilance Commissioner;  Lt Gen DS Hooda, Northern Army Chief; K Rajendra, DGP; Prof RD Sharma, Vice Chancellor University of Jammu; Prof Sudhir K Jain, Vice Chancellor, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University; Prof Khurshid Iqbal Andrabi, Vice Chancellor, Kashmir University; Dr Pradeep K Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, SKUAST-J; and senior officers of the civil administration were among the invitees