‘Collegium gives too few names’

The government on Friday said the Supreme Court collegium recommends too few names to fill the burgeoning vacancies in the High Courts, only to later blame the Centre for delaying judicial appointments.

In a tense exchange between a Bench, led by Justice Madan B. Lokur, and Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal, Justice Lokur, who is a member of the Supreme Court collegium, demanded the number of names pending with the government for clearance.

When Mr. Venugopal said he needed time to find out the names, Justice Lokur retorted, “When it comes to the government, you say ‘we will find out.’”

‘Broad picture’

To this, Mr. Venugopal countered that then the collegium would have to see the “broad picture” and “recommend more names”. He said in some High Courts, the vacancies are as high as 40, but the collegium recommends only three names. “And the government is being told we are tardy about filling up judicial vacancies?... Nothing can be done if there is no recommendation from the collegium,” the top government law officer responded.

Transfer of case

The back-and-forth came during the hearing of a petition filed by a man seeking transfer of his case from the Manipur High Court to the Gauhati High Court. The Supreme Court noted that the situation in the High Courts in States such as Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura was “critical” due to the judicial vacancies. The judicial strength of the three courts was less than half the sanctioned strength.

The collegium had on April 19 recommended to the government to appoint Justice M. Yaqoob Mir and Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar as Chief Justices of the Meghalaya High Court and Manipur High Court, respectively. This has not yet been cleared. “What are the people from the northeast supposed to do? They have to come to Delhi to get their cases transferred from one high court to another,” Justice Lokur asked.