It’s like ‘devil quoting scriptures’: Naidu on vacancies in judiciary
NEW DELHI: The government on Saturday slammed Congress for criticising it over vacancies in judiciary, saying it was like “devil quoting scriptures” as the Opposition party had the record of damaging and trying to erode the sanctity of judiciary while being in power.
Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the government has the highest regard for the judiciary and is committed to address the shortage of judges in High Courts. In a statement here, he said the process of appointment would continue even while the new Memorandum of Protocol for such appointments is under consideration. “The government, in collaboration with the Apex Court, would sincerely endeavour for an early conclusion of the new MOP in the larger interest of transparency and objectivity,” Naidu said. “The government of India has the highest regard for the Judiciary of the country which is an important pillar of democracy and shares the concern of the Supreme Court over the huge pendency of cases at different levels of Judiciary for different reasons,” he said.
NEW DELHI: Rapped by the Supreme Court for delaying judicial appointments, the government has said that it has increased the sanctioned strength of high court judges from 906 to 1,079 and insisted that there has been no abnormal increase in the vacancies in the high courts under NDA rule. The average annual rate of appointment of judges in the high courts has not declined during the last two years, though no new appointments were made during April-december, 2015 due to hearing of the NJAC matter, sources said.
“Government of India has utmost respect for the judiciary and its independence,” a source said, against the backdrop of strong statement by Chief Justice of India T S Thakur over the vacancies not being filled up. The sources said the government is concerned about the increasing pendency in the judicial courts and “hence, government has been making all out efforts to see that the vacant posts are filled up”.
They said while the sanctioned strength in June, 2014 was 906, the present government increased it to 1,079 in June this year.
The sources said that it is being presented in the media that the number of vacancies of judges in the high courts has increased abnormally in recent times. “However, an analysis of data for the last 10 years indicates that there is no such abnormal increase,” the source said. Giving details, the sources said that during the last 10 years, the number of vacancies has varied from 265 to 280.
Similarly, working strength of judges in the high courts has remained almost the same, around 600. The current working strength in high courts is 620, they said against the backdrop of attack by the Chief Justice of India and opposition parties, including Congress.
“Further, 173 new posts of judges were created in last two years. This has added to the vacancies in the High Courts, ”the source said.
During the period 20092014, only 20 new posts of high courts judges had been created, whereas during 2015 and 2016, 173 new posts were created.
“If we exclude that period, the average annual rate of appointment of High Courts judges has increased by 63 per cent (from 74 to 121 per year),” the source added. They said government is keen to expedite appointment of judges and as explained in the court, 86 fresh appointments have been made in the high courts. 121 additional judges have been made permanent, 14 chief justices have been appointed and four chief justices transferred.
The sources said 18 additional judges have been given extension and four judges to the apex court were also appointed. Besides, 33 judges of high courts have also been transferred.