Uncertainty in appointment as judge dissuades lawyers from giving consent: Justice Vipin Sanghi bids farewell to Delhi High Court

The process of appointment of judges over the years has become more time consuming and uncertain which has dissuaded many meritorious Senior Advocates from giving their consent to be considered for elevation to the bench, outgoing Delhi High Court Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi said on Monday..Justice Sanghi was speaking at the farewell ceremony organised for him on his elevation as the Chief Justice of Uttarakhand High Court."The process of appointment of judges has become time consuming, this has resulted in senior advocates not giving their names for elevation. This needs to be checked," he said.“In my humble view, this aspect needs to be urgently addressed if we wish to attract the best talent to the Bench,” he added.Justice Sanghi practised at the Delhi High Court for nearly two decades before being elevated as a judge. He sat on the bench for over 16 years. Only Justice Prakash Narayan has served for a longer period as Delhi High Court judge. .During his tenure at the Delhi High Court, Justice Sanghi dealt with a number of matters. He headed the bench that heard the cases related to shortage of oxygen and other medical supplies at the hospitals during the deadly second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.His orders in those hearings were instrumental in securing oxygen to Delhi’s hospitals, many of which were left with barely a few hours of supplies.As the acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, he also dealt with a lot of public interest litigation (PILs) petitions including the petition related to vandalism outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s house where he questioned the Delhi Police’s bandobast.In May 2022, a bench headed by him struck down the Delhi Government’s scheme of doorstep delivery of ration.The bench held that though the Delhi Government is entitled to frame a scheme for doorstep delivery of foodgrains/rations to the beneficiaries under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) at the doorsteps of the beneficiaries, the same has to be done by the government from its own resources in compliance with the prevailing laws..Below are excerpts from his farewell speech:.On judicial vacancies.In his address, Justice Sanghi referred to the fact that over the years, the appointments didn’t keep pace with retirements, transfers and elevation which resulted in the working strength of the Delhi High Court to be reduced to 29 judges.But as it has now come up to 47, there is hope that the pendency of cases will reduce, he said.He urged the judges to deal with and dispose of the oldest pending cases first especially the criminal matters where accused have been in jail for years..No room for bias.While talking about the responsibilities of people on the bench, Justice Sanghi said that as a judge there is no room for bias and they cannot pursue an agenda nor can they stand for or against things either in court or outside it.“In my view, if the institution of judiciary has to achieve its intended goal of dispensing justice without fear or favour and in accordance with constitution and law we have to function with complete integrity, honesty and independence,” said Justice Sanghi..Workload on judges.Discussing the workload on the judges, he said that judging is a task which eats up time."There is a general opinion among the members of the public that judges have it too easy because they have a five-day week and also have summer and other breaks."This, he said, is a result of their ignorance about the amount of workload judges carry, the way they work and the kind of effort that goes into their business of judging.“As an advocate I used to think that come 4:30 pm and the judges get into their cars and go back home. But it was only after my elevation did I realise that the judges put in hours and hours of work in their chambers and in their home office right from correcting orders and reading files for the next day,” he said.He added,“I would not be exaggerating if I say that a typical working day of a judge is nearly 12 hours. Considering the long hearing we hold; many reserved judgments take several days to painstakingly pen down after going through several rounds… Practically every vacation or break that I have had has been spent, in substantial part, in writing or completing judgment. This explains why there is a flurry of pronouncements soon after the breaks.”