Supreme Court collegium clears record 51 names for HC judge posts
NEW DELHI: Setting a record, the Supreme Court collegium headed by CJI JS Khehar has recommended 51 names for judges in 10 high courts shortly after finalising the memorandum of procedure (MoP) for the appointment of judges in constitutional courts.
With more than 41% posts vacant at the 24 high courts — only 632 judges as against a sanctioned strength of 1,079 — the collegium comprising CJI Khehar and Justices Dipak Misra and Jasti Chelameswar faced a tough task in finalising names as Justice Chelameswar is not taking part in collegium meetings while agreeing to record his views on the appointments proposed by the other two judges.
The CJI devised a way out and met Misra and Chelameswar separately several times between March 20 and 29 to finalise the names. In the process, he considerably pruned the list of nearly 90 names originally recommended by various high court collegiums.
The oldest of the recommendations went back a year, being sent in the third week of April 2016. Of the 51, the collegium recommended 20 judicial officers and 31 advocates for appointment as HC judges. Never before has the SC collegium recommended 51 names within a span of 10 days to the government though the pendency has been steadily mounting in various high courts since 2015.
The SC had struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) in October 2015 and two months later tasked the Centre to frame a new MoP, which remained the bone of contention between the judiciary and the executive for nearly one and a half years. Despite the logjam over the MoP, the government had claimed that it had cleared appointment of a record 127 judges to HCs in 2016.
Of the 51 names, Bombay HC got the lion's share —14 names. It has a sanctioned strength of 94 judges but a working strength of 61. The Punjab and Haryana HC, which has a vacancy of 39 against a sanctioned strength of 85, accounted for nine names.
The collegium recommended six names each for appointment as judges to Patna HC (24 vacanies) and Telangana and Andhra Pradesh HC (34 vacancies). Four names each have been recommended for the Delhi HC (vacancy of 25 judges) and Chhattisgarh HC (11 vacancies).
Three names were recommended for appointment as judges to the Jammu & Kashmir HC, which has a vacancy of eight judges against a sanctioned strength of 17. Jharkhand HC (12 vacancies) and Gauhati HC (seven vacancies) are likely to get two judges each if the Centre agrees with the collegium's recommendations. The lone vacancy in Sikkim HC too is recommended to be filled.
Surprisingly, appointments to the largest high court, Allahabad, continue to remain shrouded in mystery. After the names recommended by the collegium then headed by CJI T S Thakur got tossed back and forth a few times between the Centre and the Supreme Court, there had been a lull in the matter. The HC, with a sanctioned strength of 160 judges, is reeling under a vacancy of 76 judges.
With more than 41% posts vacant at the 24 high courts — only 632 judges as against a sanctioned strength of 1,079 — the collegium comprising CJI Khehar and Justices Dipak Misra and Jasti Chelameswar faced a tough task in finalising names as Justice Chelameswar is not taking part in collegium meetings while agreeing to record his views on the appointments proposed by the other two judges.
The CJI devised a way out and met Misra and Chelameswar separately several times between March 20 and 29 to finalise the names. In the process, he considerably pruned the list of nearly 90 names originally recommended by various high court collegiums.
The oldest of the recommendations went back a year, being sent in the third week of April 2016. Of the 51, the collegium recommended 20 judicial officers and 31 advocates for appointment as HC judges. Never before has the SC collegium recommended 51 names within a span of 10 days to the government though the pendency has been steadily mounting in various high courts since 2015.
The SC had struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) in October 2015 and two months later tasked the Centre to frame a new MoP, which remained the bone of contention between the judiciary and the executive for nearly one and a half years. Despite the logjam over the MoP, the government had claimed that it had cleared appointment of a record 127 judges to HCs in 2016.
Of the 51 names, Bombay HC got the lion's share —14 names. It has a sanctioned strength of 94 judges but a working strength of 61. The Punjab and Haryana HC, which has a vacancy of 39 against a sanctioned strength of 85, accounted for nine names.
The collegium recommended six names each for appointment as judges to Patna HC (24 vacanies) and Telangana and Andhra Pradesh HC (34 vacancies). Four names each have been recommended for the Delhi HC (vacancy of 25 judges) and Chhattisgarh HC (11 vacancies).
Three names were recommended for appointment as judges to the Jammu & Kashmir HC, which has a vacancy of eight judges against a sanctioned strength of 17. Jharkhand HC (12 vacancies) and Gauhati HC (seven vacancies) are likely to get two judges each if the Centre agrees with the collegium's recommendations. The lone vacancy in Sikkim HC too is recommended to be filled.
Surprisingly, appointments to the largest high court, Allahabad, continue to remain shrouded in mystery. After the names recommended by the collegium then headed by CJI T S Thakur got tossed back and forth a few times between the Centre and the Supreme Court, there had been a lull in the matter. The HC, with a sanctioned strength of 160 judges, is reeling under a vacancy of 76 judges.
