SC irked by delay in judges' appointments

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court took exception on Friday to the executive's tendency to slow down the process of appointment of judges to constitutional courts, as experienced after it struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act and re-established the collegium system of "judges selecting judges".
The SC called for a time frame, for the judiciary to recommend names of judges and the executive to effect the appointments, to "keep hope and aspirations of litigants for speedy justice alive". This assumes significance as the Centre appears to be delaying the appointment of Uttarakhand CJ K M Joseph and senior advocate Indu Malhotra as SC judges.

It is more than a month since the collegium headed by CJI Justice Dipak Misra unanimously recommended their names.

In another instance, the appointment of more than a dozen judges to the Allahabad high court, reeling under huge vacancy and a monstrous pendency of cases, were cleared over a year after the SC Collegium, headed by then CJI T S Thakur, had recommended the names.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said, "It is seen that once the names are forwarded, they remain pending at the executive level for an unduly long time before they are sent with the executive's inputs to the collegium of the Supreme Court for approval. Even after clearance of the names by the collegium, these remain pending at the level of the executive... Sometimes, it takes more than one year to complete the process from the date of forwarding the names till appointment."

Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Bhushan said nearly 25 years ago, the SC, while taking over the executive's constitutionally mandated power to appoint judges, had "categorically stated that the process of appointment must be initiated at least one month before the date of anticipated vacancy".

"Unfortunately, it still remains a far cry. In the first instance, names are not forwarded by the high courts in time. Not to talk of sending the names one month before the occurrence of an anticipated vacancy, names are not forwarded even much after the vacancy has occurred," it said.

This delay on the part of the executive and the HCs adversely affected judicial officers and advocates recommended for appointment as judges, the SC said. "It is a matter of common knowledge that most judicial officers get a chance for elevation (appointment as HC judges) when only a few years of service are left. Thus, when unduly long time is taken, even this lesser tenure gets further reduced."

The bench added, "Equally, members of the bar whose names are recommended for appointment as HC judges undergo hardship of a different kind. It is unjust that the fate of such persons remains in limbo for indefinite periods and gives rise to unnecessary conjectural debates. It leads to unpleasant situations which can be avoided," the bench said.

"It is, therefore, in the interest of all stakeholders, including the judiciary, that definite timelines are drawn for each stage of the process, so that the process of appointment (of judges) is accomplished within a time-bound manner. More so, to keep hope and aspiration of litigants alive and to fulfil the commitment of providing speedy justice, the process of appointment of judges to HCs needs more expedition at the hands of all who have to discharge the constitutional obligation entrusted by the Constitution," it said.