On Friday, Centre said that before blaming the Govt for the delay in appointment of High Court Judges, the Apex Court would do well to set its house in order by expediting a decision on 23 names proposed by HCs which have been pending consideration of the SC Collegium for periods between 9 months to 33 months.
A bench of CJI S A Bobde & Justice S K Kaul & Justice Sanjiv Khanna had told Attorney General K K Venugopal on Wednesday that as many as 103 names sent by various High Court's to the Govt were yet to be processed & forwarded to the Supreme Court collegium for consideration. The bench had also told the AG that 47 fresh proposals were pending with the SC collegium as also 23 cases in which it has deferred a decision. A chart prepared by Justice Kaul, who is not a collegium member, showed that 16 recommendations of the collegium for appointment of Judges were pending with the Govt.
Law ministry sources pointed to the 23 proposals pending with the SC collegium & said 5 of these concerned Calcutta HC. It said one advocate’s name was recommended by the HC collegium & was pending consideration of the SC collegium since May 11, 2018, when Justice Diapk Misra was the CJI. Even after a lapse of 33 months, there was no final decision on the proposal. The other four advocates’ names have been pending with the SC collegium since July 24, 2019, that is for more than 18 months.
Similarly, an Advocate’s name for appointment as Judge of Madras HC was pending with the collegium for 23 months, a proposal for elevation of two judicial officers as judges of Andhra Pradesh HC & 2 Judicial Officers as judges of Telangana HC were pending for 22 months, ministry sources said.
An advocate’s name, recommended by Delhi HC, was repeatedly deferred by the SC collegium for the last 18 months. Proposals for appointments as HC judges pending for one year included one each for the HCs of Karnataka, J&K & Punjab; 2 each for Kerala and Rajasthan. Proposal for appointment of an advocate to Karnataka HC has been pending with the collegium for 9 months.
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The 25 HCs, with a sanctioned strength of 1,080 judges, are functioning with 663 judges, leaving a vacancy of 417 posts (39%). With the case load touching nearly 45 lakh, HCs with depleted judge strength find it extremely difficult to deal with pendency, which would still be a Herculean task even with full strength.
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