Collegium recommends 82 more names for appointment as HC judges

Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 4

Faced with a vacancy of 465 judges against a sanctioned strength of 1,098 in 25 high courts, the Supreme Court Collegium has gone into overdrive to appoint judges.

“The Collegium has recommended, if I am not wrong, yesterday 82 names to various high courts. I hope the Honourable Law Minister is here…the government will ensure that the names are cleared at the earliest just the way the nine names were cleared for the apex court,” Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said on Saturday.

SC Collegium recommends 4 names for elevation as Punjab and Haryana HC judges

The latest recommendations were yet to be published on the top court’s website.

Terming it “an ongoing process,” the CJI said, “We hope to live up to the herculean challenge of filling 41 per cent of vacancies existing in all the high courts.”

Addressing a function organise by Bar Council of India (BCI) to facilitate him, the CJI said he expected that 90 per cent of the vacancies will be filled in another one month, adding, “It has been my endeavour to address the issues of vacancies in the highest judiciary on an urgent basis.”

He also thanked his colleagues in the Collegium—Justice UU Lalit, Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice LN Rao for becoming “active and constructive partners in this endeavour”.

The CJI’s revelation about recommendation of 82 more names comes close on the heels of 68 other names (44 advocates and 24 judicial officers) cleared by the Collegium on August 24 and September 1 for appointment as judges in 12 high courts. Twelve of the names were reiterations of names earlier recommended by the Collegium but sent back by the Government for reconsideration.

The 68 recommendations were for the high courts of Allahabad, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab & Haryana, Calcutta, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Gauhati, Karnataka, Madras, Kerala and Jammu & Kashmir High Courts.

The advocates recommended for elevation as Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 1 are: Vikas Suri, Vinod Sharma (Bhardwaj), Pankaj Jain and Jasjit Singh Bedi. The Collegium had recommended the names of 13 advocates and three judicial officers for elevation to the Allahabad HC.

CJI Ramana thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Law Minister Kiran Rijiju for expeditiously clearing nine names for elevation as judges of the Supreme Court which now has only one judicial vacancy.

He recalled how Rijiju met him after taking over as the Law Minister and asked him about the problems faced by the Judiciary.

“I told him (Rijiju) that pending vacancies are an issue and he cleared all the nine names (for the Supreme Court) within seven days. This was a record time,” the CJI said, adding, “I expect the same speed for the high court names recommended by us.”

During the function, the CJI also felicitated the Law Minister and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

The Law Minister said when he met the CJI for the first time, he didn’t know him much and had heard about him only friends and the media.

“In our first interaction I had realised that we have a CJI in whom we have full faith and trust…The Government will not only strengthen the independence of judiciary but also provide support to the same,” Rijiju said in the presence of Supreme Court judges, some lawmakers and a large number of office bearers of BCI and state bar councils.

Rijiju also raised the issue of pendency of cases in subordinate courts. “When a person from rural area expects justice, he sells off everything…like land etc…If justice gets delayed then it’s a big question mark on all of us…Denying justice beyond three years is a real delay and by that time justice isn’t even needed.

The CJI lamented that most of the students from rural areas were not getting into law schools and the legal profession sadly remained an urban profession.

On poor representation of women in judiciary, Justice Ramana said, “After 75 years of independence one would be expect 50 per cent representation of women at all levels…but I must admit with great difficulty we have now achieved a mere 11 per cent of woman representation on the Bench of the Supreme Court.”

Against a sanctioned strength of 34 judges, top court currently has 33 judges, including 4 women judges.

Praising the CJI for expediting judicial appointments, Justice BR Gavai likened him with Sachin Tendulkar who was breaking records one after another.

During his address the CJI said, “My roots are from the Bar. I enjoyed my life as member of the Bar more than a judge. This is my honest confession.”

He recommended setting up a National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation to address the issues of buildings, toilets, lawyers’ chambers and other such issues. He said he has prepared a report which will be submitted to the Law Minister within a week. He also urged the Law Minister to take measure to ensure that subordinate court lawyers had proper access to internet.

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