Union govt not planning a bill on appointment of judges rijiju tells rs

Union govt not planning a bill on appointment of judges rijiju tells rs

He says appointments to higher judiciary is a collaborative process, differences between executive and judiciary are mutually reconciled to ensure that only an appropriate person is selected.

The appointment of judges to the higher judiciary is a collaborative process, and if differences crop up between the appropriate and the judiciary, they are mutually reconciled to ensure that only an appropriate person is appointed, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Mr. Rijiju, in a written answer, replied in the negative when asked if government was planning to bring a Bill on appointment of judges to the High Courts and the Supreme Court.

He was responding to a question by Jawhar Sircar of the Trinamool Congress on “sharp differences” emerging between the government and the Supreme Court with regard procedure and power to appoint judges.

In a separate reply to a different question, asked by the Leader of the Opposition and Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge, about the government sending back names of judges that were reiterated by the Supreme Court Collegium, the Law Minister said that there were 10 such cases.

“Out of these 10 proposals, the collegium has reiterated its recommendation for appointment in respect of three proposals. On the remaining seven reiterated proposals, the collegium has sought additional inputs from the High Court Collegium,” he said.

Answering another question posed by BJP MP Sushil Modi on the memorandum of procedure to appoint judges, the Law Minister said that the government had written to the Chief Justice of India about setting up a search-cum-evaluation committee that would have representatives from the Union and the State governments.

Vacancies in courts

Discussing the need to fill vacancies, the Law Minister said that as on February 6, the Supreme Court was functioning with 32 judges as against a sanctioned strength of 34.

“The process to fill up the two remaining vacancies is under consideration. In the High Courts, against the sanctioned strength of 1,108 judges, 771 judges are working and 337 posts of judges are vacant,” he said.

Responding to another question, Mr. Rijiju said that the Upper House had over 69,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court, while nearly 60 lakh cases are pending in the High Courts as on February 1.