President Murmu proposes All India Judicial Service to select 'brilliant youngsters'

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, November 26

President Droupadi Murmu on Sunday proposed a “merit based, competitive and transparent” All-India Judicial Service (AIJS) to select “brilliant youngsters and nurture and promote their talents from lower levels to higher levels”.

Addressing a Constitution Day function organised by the Supreme Court, the President said, “Those who aspire to serve the Bench can be selected from across the country to create a larger pool of talent. Such a system can offer opportunities to the less-represented social groups too.”

The place of the judiciary, which has been welcoming diversity with open arms, in the constitutional framework has remained “rather unique” and that a “more varied representation of India’s unique diversity on Bench and Bar would definitely help serve the cause of justice better, Murmu said.

“One way to hasten this diversification process can be the creation of a system (AIJS) in which judges can be recruited from varied backgrounds through a process which is merit based, competitive and transparent,” the President said in the presence of CJI DY Chandrachud, judges, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and a large number of lawyers.

Currently, judges of the Supreme Court and high courts are selected through the Collegium system created by the Supreme Court in 1993 and the Government’s role is limited to checking the antecedents of those recommended for appointment as judges.

The judges of Subordinate Courts are selected through competitive examinations conducted by state public service commissions under the supervision of the respective high courts where the state governments have limited role.

Article 312 of the Constitution empowers Parliament to enact a law to provide for the creation of one or more all India services (including an all India judicial service) common to the Union and the States. While All India Services such as IAS, IFS and IPS have been created, no step has been taken for creating an AIJS.

In December 2022, the Centre had told Parliament that there was no proposal to create an AIJS even as it maintained that such a service was important to strengthen the overall justice delivery system.

The Union Justice Secretary had in May 2017 written to the Supreme Court Secretary General suggesting a centralized examination to be conducted by a recruitment body such as the Union Public Service Commission for selection of judges in subordinate courts. The letter has since been converted into a PIL which was pending before the top court.

Highlighting that cost of litigation and language acted as barriers for citizens seeking justice, the President said the overall system needed to be made citizen-centric in order to improve access to justice.

She said “our systems” have been products of colonialism and clearing away its vestiges has been a work in progress.

“I am sure that we can speed up the remaining part of de-colonisation in all domains with more conscious efforts. I believe involving the young generation in those efforts, by making them more knowledgeable of the Constitution—its making and its working—will bear excellent fruits in that direction,” the President said.

Earlier, President Murmu unveiled a statue of Dr B R Ambedkar on the Supreme Court premises. Besides Murmu, CJI Chandrachud and Law Minister Meghwal also paid their tributes to Ambedkar and offered flowers to the over 7-ft tall sculpture.

November 26 is celebrated as Constitution Day to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India by the Constituent Assembly on this day in 1949.

Murmu appreciated the Supreme Court for playing the role of the final interpreter of our founding document to the perfection. The Supreme Court’s Bar and Bench have constantly raised the standards of jurisprudence, she added.