SC fixes timelines for appointment of judges, notes HCs are in crisis

The top court for the first time indicated an outer time limit of 18 weeks to complete the process for appointments of the HC judges

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued directions affixing timeline for the Union government to make appointment of judges in the High Courts, saying promptness was to facilitate the larger cause of timely justice.

"The High Courts are in a crisis situation. There are almost 40 per cent vacancies, with many of the larger High Courts working under 50 per cent of their sanctioned strength," a bench presided over by Chief Justice S A Bobde said.

Holding that a “collaborative” exercise was required, the top court for the first time indicated an outer time limit of 18 weeks to complete the process for appointments of the High Court judges.

The existing Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) which guides the judicial appointments, has not suggested any period within which the Centre is supposed to forward the recommendations to the Supreme Court Collegium.

Within the 18 weeks, the bench, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Surya Kant, said after High Courts send their recommendations to the Union law ministry, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) should not take more than eight weeks to give its inputs.

Afterwards, the Centre should process these names within eight to 12 weeks and send them to the Supreme Court collegium with their comments for final approval, taking a maximum 18 weeks in the entire process.

As laid down in the MoP, the Supreme Court Collegium, led by the CJI, will send its final recommendations in the next four weeks and these recommendations will preferably be put up before the Prime Minister, who will advise the President in the matter of appointment.

The court has said that in case the government had any reservation, those names may be sent back to the Supreme Court Collegium with specific reasons.

However, the bench has held, if the Supreme Court Collegium reiterated unanimously, "such appointment should be processed and appointment should be made within three to four weeks”.

The court also stressed at the requirement of the Chief Justices of the 25 high courts to recommend vacancies as early as possible.

Out of sanctioned post of 1,080 judges in 25 High Courts, there were vacancies of 411 judges.

In its order, the bench dismissed a contention that this subject was beyond its ambit, saying the restraint imposed by the constitution bench in the Third Judge’s Case (1998) related to judicial review of particular appointments and not to the aspects of the appointment processes like delay.