In visitors’ gallery, 10 judges from K’taka, 5 from Kerala

5 SC JUDGES TAKE OATH

ON FRIDAY, more than a dozen court rooms in the Karnataka High Court remained locked while around half this number of courts could not function in the Kerala High Court. Reason — at least 10 judges from Karnataka HC and five from Kerala HC were in the national capital to attend the swearing-in of their former colleagues in the Supreme Court.

Karnataka HC currently has a vacancy of over 50 per cent — of the total approved strength of 62 judges, 32 posts are vacant. Kerala HC is short of 10 permanent judges out of 35 such posts.

On Friday, five new judges, including one each from Karnataka HC and Kerala HC, were sworn in after their elevation. Chief Justice of India J S Khehar administered the oath of office to Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Navin Sinha, Mohan M Shantanagoudar, Deepak Gupta and S Abdul Nazeer Friday morning in court hall No.1

Justice Kaul and Justice Sinha were the chief justices of Madras Hcandrajasthanhc,respectively. Justice Shantanagoudar was the chief justice of Kerala HC while Justice Gupta was the chief justice ofchhattisgarhhc.justicenazeer was a judge in the Karnataka HC.

The event saw many visitors swarming the court hall. Not just relatives of the judges being elevated, their former colleagues in the high court were also present to witness the ceremony.

The Indian Express also contacted Karnataka Bhavan and Kerala House in New Delhi to confirm the number of HC judges present in the national capital on Friday.

An official in the Karnataka Bhavan named 10 judges, who were in Delhi for the event.

Justice Nazeer, who is among the five new SC judges, is also currently residing there. Apart from the HC judges, Karnataka’s Advocate General and its Upalokayukta had also come for the ceremony. The present CJI, Justice Khehar, was the chief justice of Karnataka HC before his elevation as a judge in the Supreme Court.

Similarly, an official in Kerala House confirmed that five HC judges had arrived for the swearing-in of their former colleague Justice Shantanagoudar who was the chief justice there for around six months.

Former CJI R M Lodha said this was “completely avoidable”. “For every judge, judicial work has to be of paramount importance. The judicial system is under burden on account of vacancy positions and growing pendency. In such circumstances, leaving judicial work to attend a swearing in function cannot be justified,” said Justice Lodha.

During a hearing of a bunch of PILS on shortage of judges and delay in judicial appointments in October 2016, the Supreme Court had specifically cited the instance of Karnataka HC, questioning if the Central government wants the entire judicial system to be “locked out”.

“In Karnataka High Court, half the courtrooms are locked because there are no judges. There was a time when you had no courtrooms for judges and now most of the courtrooms are locked. You should very well have the whole institution of justice locked out,” it had then said.