Legal luminaries speak about shortage of judges at Bar Association of India conclave

The Bar Association of India flagged off its much-awaited legal conclave, The Rule of Law Convention 2018 on Judicial Reforms on Friday at New Delhi’s India Habitat Centre..The convention, which seeks to reinstate the people’s faith in the rule of law, was inaugurated by the President of the Bar Association of India Dr. Lalit Bhasin, along with the members of the Executive Committee. Bhasin stated,.“On behalf of the Bar Association of India, I would like to thank all our senior luminaries for coming forward to discuss the role of our community in playing a significant role in shaping the foremost reforms that define our country.”.The inaugural session of the conclave was a panel discussion titled Acute Shortage of Judges, chaired by Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Vikas Singh with legal luminaries like Salman Khurshid, Shyam Divan, Jamshed P Cama, Basava Prabhu Patil and Priya Hingorani as panelists..Senior Advocate Vikas Singh emphasized on the need for finalizing the appointment of judges before the retirement of sitting judges, similar to the process of filling vacancies in the civil services..He stated that the collegium system may not be perfect, but it is better than judges being appointed by the political class. He further stated that lobbying for elevation should be considered as a disqualification..Former Union Minister for Law and Justice Salman Khurshid said that the acute shortage of judges in India is prompts the highest urgency. He said that there are some fundamental flaws in our legal system and that we need geniuses to sit down and find solutions..He said that he felt accountable while dealing with the issue as law minister, and shared that the sitting judges at the time cooperated with him greatly. He also said that during his tenure, they were working on something like a National Judicial Service for having highly trained judges at the district level..Talking about the higher judiciary, he said that as a country, we do not have an appellate judiciary which is stable at the top, as most of the Chief Justices have a very short tenure..Khurshid denounced the practice of having the intelligence agencies look into the background of potential judges and also stated that he had some reservations about the role of politicians in appointment of judges,.“Politicians have a deep seated distrust in the judiciary”, he said..Senior Advocate Jamshed Pesi Cama made a passionate speech about the alarming situation of the judiciary and said,.“A democracy with a weak government can survive but a democracy with a weak judiciary is an anachronism.”.He highlighted that various studies suggest that the country needs over 70,000 judges, and presently there are over 400 vacancies in the higher judiciary, despite which the current Law Minister praises the government for appointing a paltry number of judges..He further stated that peace can only prevail if there is rule of law and the rule of law can prevail if there are enough judges to implement it..Senior Advocate Shyam Divan brought up the situation at the tribunals, and made a specific reference to the shortage of judicial members at the National Green Tribunal..“Is there really a design to all of this?…Is there a purpose behind the Government not having personnel of competence in the tribunals which the Government itself has set up? If that is so then there is a very strong indication of a complete breakdown of rule of law.” .He added that the government must look at the problem as a political issue and an infrastructure requirement for nation building.