CJI seeks Centre’s support on clearing collegium picks
NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana on Saturday asked the Union government to lend its “support and cooperation” in clearing appointments of judges quickly to facilitate “access to justice and to strengthen democracy,” as around 100 names await the Centre’s nod.
Justice Ramana was speaking at the launch of Pan India Legal Awareness and Outreach Campaign of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) in the capital, when he highlighted the staggering pendency of cases amid “large vacancies” across all courts, and the need to hasten appointments in the high courts.
Delivering his address in the presence of President Ram Nath Kovind, law minister Kiren Rijiju and several other SC judges, the CJI underlined that the apex court collegium, which comprises the CJI and the four most senior judges, has recommended the appointment of 106 judges and nine new chief justices to various high courts since May.
“The government has cleared seven names out of the 106 judges and one out of the nine chief justices, so far. I expect that the government will clear the rest of the names very soon. These appointments will take care of pendency to some extent. I seek the cooperation and support of the government to enable access to justice and to strengthen democracy,” said justice Ramana.
During his speech, the CJI said that he spoke to Rijiju about the pending names. “The law minister has informed me that rest of it (names) are going to come in one- or two-days’ time. I thank the central government for clearing these vacancies and (ensuring) quick access to justice,” he said.
The sanctioned strength of judges in 25 high courts in India is 1,098. Of these, 465 posts (more than 42% of total strength) were vacant as on September 1.
The collegium, which includes justices Uday U Lalit, AM Khanwilkar, Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao, recently cleared the appointment of regular chief justices in eight high courts to make administration of constitutional courts more efficient. At present, eight out of 25 high courts are working without regular chief justices.
The collegium also set in motion a major shake-up by recommending the transfer of five chief justices, besides reshuffling more than two dozen other judges of the high courts. Most of these recommendations are yet to be approved by the Centre, prompting the CJI to comment on it on Saturday.
Laying emphasis on the pivotal role played by the judiciary in ensuring access to justice to vitalise democracy, the CJI said that socio-economic justice would be impossible to achieve without providing equal access to justice, which essentially entails creating legal awareness.
The constitutional guarantee of equal justice will be rendered meaningless if vulnerable sections cannot enforce their rights, said justice Ramana, pointing out that equality and access to justice complement each other, especially in a country like India where socio-economic gaps and inequities remain widespread.
This is why today all the three organs of the state – the executive, the legislature and the judiciary – have come together to strive for a future based on inclusion, equality and fairness, said the chief justice, who is also patron-in-chief of NALSA.
Justice Ramana announced that NALSA is embarking on an ambitious six-week programme beginning Saturday to “carry the flag of justice to the remotest corner and to the weakest person in this country”, to enable people to realise the goals of true freedom and independence.
Justice Ramana thanked President Kovind for his constant support to legal reforms and for supporting having more women judges in the constitutional courts. “It is his (Kovind’s) strong belief in gender justice that was instrumental in the recent appointment of judges to the Supreme Court. With him at the helm, the positivity will spread across all the high courts.”
Out of the sanctioned strength of 34 judges, the Supreme Court currently has four women judges — justices Indira Banerjee, Hima Kohli, BV Nagarathna and Bela M Trivedi — which is the highest ever number in its history.
At the event, justice Uday U Lalit, executive chairman of NALSA, implored senior lawyers to take up at least three cases pro bono (free of cost for the public good) every year. “If well-established and senior lawyers think that it is time to give back to the system and take up pro bono cases, then people will develop this confidence in the free legal aid... Please, do pro bono work on your own. This is my request to all the senior lawyers.”
The judge also favoured including paralegal work in the curriculum of the law schools. “If internships are compulsory in medical colleges, why cannot such a system be made compulsory also in the law colleges?...”
At the event, justices Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul underscored the need to improve the quality of legal aid, lamenting it was a collective failing of the legal fraternity. They appealed prominent lawyers to come forward to provide free legal aid to the needy.
President Kovind calls for women-led development
India must graduate from women’s development to women-led development, President Ram Nath Kovind said on Saturday, raising the pitch for increasing the number of women in National Legal Service institutions.
“As a country, our aim is to graduate from ‘women development’ to ‘women-led development’. Therefore, increasing the number of women in National Legal Services institutions is as important as reaching out to the largest possible number of women beneficiaries,” Kovind said at the NALSA event.
Of the 47,000 panel lawyers working at district legal services authorities, nearly 11,000 are women, he said. There are close to 44,000 para-legal volunteers associated with the 3,000-odd legal services institutions in the country, of which about 17,000 are women volunteers.
Laying stress of spreading legal awareness, the President also took note of the dearth of best legal talent for the poor and marginalised, who cannot afford the services of senior advocates.