Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 13

With judicial vacancies galore in the Supreme Court and the 25 high courts across India, questions are being raised over the functioning of the Collegium system under which judges appoint judges to the higher judiciary since 1993.

As on date, there are nine vacancies in the Supreme Court which has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges, including the Chief Justice of India. With another judge—Justice Navin Sinha—scheduled to demit office on August 18, judicial vacancy will rise to 10 in the Supreme Court where 69,476 cases are pending.

The Collegium consists of five senior-most judges, including the CJI, for appointment of judges to the Supreme Court while it’s CJI-plus two senior-most judges for clearing the names for appointment of judges to high courts.

The Collegium has failed to recommend names for appointment of judges to the Supreme Court after August 28, 2019, when it made its last recommendations.

Justice RF Nariman—who demitted office on Thursday—had reportedly insisted on elevation of two senior-most HC judges—Karnataka HC Chief Justice Abhay S Oka and Tripura HC Chief Justice Akil Kureshi—to the top court before any other names were cleared for elevation.

Because of the stalemate, the Collegium led by the then CJI SA Bobde could not recommend any names for elevation to the top court between November 18, 2019, and April 24, 2021, despite having vacancies.

After Justice Narimman’s retirement, the SC Collegium will consist of CJI NV Ramana Ramana, Justice UU Lalit, Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice DY Chandrachud and the new entrant—Justice LN Rao. Will the deadlock end now?

The Supreme Court Bar Association president Vikas Singh said, “The way the Collegium system is functioning, it’s better that we revert to the old system as neither there is transparency nor are they able to decide names for elevation. A large number of vacancies in the Supreme Court and high courts don’t inspire confidence in the Collegium system.”

He said the top court has failed to implement its verdict in the NJAC case that had specifically talked about having transparency in the Collegium’s functioning.

According to “Vacancy Positions” displayed on the Department of Justice website, 455, i.e., 41.43 percent of 1,098 posts of judges in 25 high courts are vacant.

Many of the high courts have 50 per cent or more vacancies. In the Patna High Court—34 of 53, the Calcutta High Court—41 of 72, the Orissa High Court—14 of 27, the Rajasthan High Court 27 of 50, the Telangana High Court 29 of 42 and Delhi High Court 30 of 60 posts remain vacant.

Similarly, in the Allahabad High Court 60 of the 160, the Bombay High Court 31 of 94, the Gujarat High Court 24 of 52, the Andhra Pradesh High Court 18 of 37, the Punjab and Haryana High Court 39 of 85 and Madhya Pradesh High Court 24 of 53 posts of judges have not been filled.

However, smaller high courts of Sikkim, Meghalaya and Manipur don’t have any vacancies while the Tripura High Court has only one vacancy.