One year old PILs on judicial appointments disposed of by Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today disposed of Public Interest Litigation petitions relating to judicial appointments in high courts..The Bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justices DY Chandrachud and SK Kaul disposed of the petitions citing the progress made with regard to the issues raised..The Court noted that the process of appointment of high court judges has been accelerated and that the Memorandum of Procedure has been finalised..The Court also said that it has constituted a Committee comprising Supreme Court judges to examine the issue of pendency of cases..Regarding the prayer to increase the sanctioned strength of judges, the Court remarked that it will first fill up the existing vacancies before taking up such an issue..The Court then disposed of the cases after giving the petitioner the liberty to approach the Court in the future if the need arises..The petitions, which were filed during the tenure of former Chief Justice of India, TS Thakur had witnessed many high voltage hearings and had clearly brought to fore the tussle between Centre and Supreme Court collegium on the topic of appointment and transfer of judges..Justice Thakur warned that he would withdraw the judicial work of two judges – Valmiki Mehta and MR Shah JJ – should the Centre not effect their transfers immediately. This outburst occurred in August last year, six months after the collegium had recommended the transfer of the aforementioned judges..This was not the only time the Centre was pulled up for dragging its feet. In October last year, Justice Thakur threatened to summon officials of the Prime Minister’s office to the Supreme Court, in response to the Centre’s lackadaisical attitude..Image courtesy: Supreme Court of India annual report

One year old PILs on judicial appointments disposed of by Supreme Court

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