A Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra today observed that “some progress” has been made in relation to judicial appointments..“We have made some progress”, remarked Justice Misra..The observations came in a petition by Madras Bar Association seeking strict timelines to be implemented at every stage of the process of judicial appointments..Senior Advocate Arvind Datar appeared for the Madras Bar Association..The matter was heard by a Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud..The Bench also remarked that some appointments have already gone through before adjourning the matter for August..The petition calls for directions to the Centre to process recommendations made by the Supreme Court and High Court Collegia. It states,.“The arbitrary and inordinate delay by the Executive in the appointment of Judges to the Higher Judiciary is violative of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.”.The petition points out that more than a hundred appointments to the high courts are in limbo, having been stuck at various stages of the appointment process. This, it is contended, amounts to an exercise of the indirect veto by the Executive..With a view to preventing this from happening any longer, the Court has been urged to set specific timelines in the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for the appointment of judges..“…the existing MOPs are entirely silent on the timelines for the appointment of Judges to this Hon’ble Court and Permanent Judges to the High Courts, thus giving the Executive a carte blanche to stonewall the recommendations sent by the respective Collegia.”.It has further been argued that though the MoPs do not provide a specific timeframe within which appointments must be processed, the Supreme Court in the Second Judges case stressed that undue delays must be avoided..The petition also highlights the burgeoning vacancies across the twenty-four high courts in the country, as a result of the stalling of appointments. As per the latest statistics, 420 high court posts are lying vacant, while the Supreme Court has 8 vacancies..“…the failure to fill up the vacancies has exponentially increased the workload on the sitting Hon’ble Judges of the Higher Judiciary. As a result, the quality of justice delivery system has been adversely impacted, and further delays would render the functioning of courts unmanageable…”.Read Madras Bar Association Petition:
A Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra today observed that “some progress” has been made in relation to judicial appointments..“We have made some progress”, remarked Justice Misra..The observations came in a petition by Madras Bar Association seeking strict timelines to be implemented at every stage of the process of judicial appointments..Senior Advocate Arvind Datar appeared for the Madras Bar Association..The matter was heard by a Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud..The Bench also remarked that some appointments have already gone through before adjourning the matter for August..The petition calls for directions to the Centre to process recommendations made by the Supreme Court and High Court Collegia. It states,.“The arbitrary and inordinate delay by the Executive in the appointment of Judges to the Higher Judiciary is violative of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.”.The petition points out that more than a hundred appointments to the high courts are in limbo, having been stuck at various stages of the appointment process. This, it is contended, amounts to an exercise of the indirect veto by the Executive..With a view to preventing this from happening any longer, the Court has been urged to set specific timelines in the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for the appointment of judges..“…the existing MOPs are entirely silent on the timelines for the appointment of Judges to this Hon’ble Court and Permanent Judges to the High Courts, thus giving the Executive a carte blanche to stonewall the recommendations sent by the respective Collegia.”.It has further been argued that though the MoPs do not provide a specific timeframe within which appointments must be processed, the Supreme Court in the Second Judges case stressed that undue delays must be avoided..The petition also highlights the burgeoning vacancies across the twenty-four high courts in the country, as a result of the stalling of appointments. As per the latest statistics, 420 high court posts are lying vacant, while the Supreme Court has 8 vacancies..“…the failure to fill up the vacancies has exponentially increased the workload on the sitting Hon’ble Judges of the Higher Judiciary. As a result, the quality of justice delivery system has been adversely impacted, and further delays would render the functioning of courts unmanageable…”.Read Madras Bar Association Petition:
