Top court pulls up HCS, state govts
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has warned state governments and high courts (HCS) that it will take over the process of filling up vacancies in the lower judiciary if they fail to expedite the exercise.
“We are telling all high courts and states that we are keeping you under constant gaze. If you cannot fill vacancies, then we will take over and have a centralised exam. We want our judges to be in place” a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi told lawyers.
Statistics reveal there are 5,223 vacancies in trial courts. The Centre has proposed a centralized examination to fill them up, pointing to a staggering 2,76,74,499 cases pending in subordinate courts. But states and high courts have opposed the suggestion.
On October 22, CJI Gogoi’s bench took up the matter on its own and ordered all state governments and HCS to update it on the status of recruitment of lower court judges and whether the timeline for selection as laid down by the top court in a 2006 verdict was being followed.
As per the order, appointment of new judges to subordinate courts has to be completed in nine months.
“All high courts and public service commissions (agency that holds exams) have been very casual,” CJI Gogoi said.
He added that nothing was initiated to address the issue till the SC began monitoring it on the administrative side. Even then, he rued, recurring queries have not yielded any definite replies.
States and HCS failed to indicate how they were short of infrastructure. “The level of indifference is phenomenal, ” the CJI said.
The situation in Delhi and Haryana was discussed as an example. The bench, also comprising justices UU Lalit and KM Joseph, said Delhi had taken at least a year to fill up just 200 vacancies.
In Haryana, the bench revealed, the examination held in 2015 was cancelled and the fresh advertisement issued in 2018 attracted a huge rush, leading to collapse of the official website on the last date of application.
Deciding to examine the status in batches, the bench summoned in person the registrar general and authorized representatives of the chief secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and the North-eastern states on November 15. NEWDELHI: The Union cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to rename Odisha’s Jharsuguda Airport after freedom fighter from the state Surendra Sai. The airport will now be known as Veer Surendra Sai Airport.
“Veer Surendra Sai is a wellknown freedom fighter of Odisha. Renaming of the Jharsuguda airport in his name will fulfill longpending demand of the Odisha Government, which reflects the sentiments of the local public of the respective area,” an official statement released after the cabinet meeting said.
The cabinet, in its meeting, also approved an agreement between India and Morocco on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.
“The agreement will provide a broad legal framework for bilateral cooperation between India and Morocco in investigation and prosecution of crime, tracing, restraint, forfeiture or confiscation or proceeds and instruments of crime,” another official statement said.
The agreement aims to increase effectiveness in investigation of crimes and prosecution of culprits. The pact will be instrumental helping security agencies gain better inputs and insights in the modus operandi of organised criminals and terrorists, which in turn can be used to fine-tune policy decisions in the field of internal security, officials familiar with the matter said.
According to another government statement, the cabinet was apprised of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC), with Russia inked on October 5. The MOU with Russia’s ministry of transport of the Russian federation was signed for cooperation in transport education. The MOC was signed with the Joint Stock Company “Russian Railways” (RZD) on technical cooperation in the field of railways, officials said.
We are telling all high courts and states that we are keeping you under constant gaze. If you cannot fill vacancies, then we will take over and have a centralised exam... A BENCH LED BY CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA (CJI) RANJAN GOGOI