Judicial service worthy idea
The Constitution Day may have come embroiled in the politics of the day as evidenced in the polarisation so apparent in the country today with many in the Opposition boycotting events. But its usefulness in bringing out larger ideas to do with the powers that govern the nation and its people has been apparent in this year’s edition. The President of India’s reflection on the appointment process in the higher judiciary and his mooting an All India Judicial Service is about the most practical suggestion to have emerged. It can be set up easily enough from within the states’ public service commission system of evaluating candidates for government service.
A traditional system of appointing judges is largely followed even today with judges being appointed to the district court by the high court or state public service commissions and from among the distinguished members of the bar. Some ICS officers of yore may even have made excellent judges in the days of the Raj and beyond but there is no arguing against greater specialisation being brought in with a dedicated judicial service. Given the pendency of cases — about 3.9 crores in district and subordinate courts, 60 lakhs in high courts and about 69,000 cases in the Supreme Court — there is also a need for a sense of urgency to the executive clearing judicial appointments made by the collegium. The debate over the judges appointing judges versus a National Judicial Appointments Commission has been well settled. Whatever be the method of appointment, the independence of the judiciary should not be compromised. This is all too important in times like these.
The intentions behind the separation of powers among the judiciary, legislature and the executive may not have been stated explicitly enough even in such a highly regarded written Constitution. Nonetheless, there is merit in the Chief Justice of India’s suggestion to revamp the highest judiciary making it a purely constitutional court while regional courts of appeal heard pleas against high court verdicts.