×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

SC terms 40% vacancy of HC judges as alarming; AG contends 100-day vetting over HCs taking five years

Last Updated 17 February 2020, 15:25 IST

The Supreme Court on Monday termed 40 % vacancy of judges in high courts across the country as "alarming" since the Centre contended it should not be questioned for 100-odd days taken for vetting a name when the high court itself took as many as five years to make a recommendation.

“Let high courts reform themselves first,” Attorney General KK Venugopal submitted before a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph.

He was responding to a query on time-line of judicial appointments in high courts and in the Supreme Court, which showed that as many as 127 days were taken in clearing a name after a report from the Intelligence Bureau.

The high courts of Bombay, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh have taken more than 60 months time in recommending names for appointments to the high courts. Out of 396 vacancies across the high courts, there has not been a single name sent for 199 positions, he said.

"What is this 100 odd days by the government when high courts take more than 5 years in recommending names? Let high courts reform them first. Issue notices to all 25 high courts and ask them what is the reasons for their delay,” Venugopal said.

On this, the bench admitted almost 40 % posts of judges in the high courts were vacant, which was alarming. The court said some internal mechanism must be worked out, saying the rule for making recommendation six months in advance was observed more in breach.

The court decided to seek responses from registrar generals of all the high courts regarding their vacancy positions and the tentative time line to send the recommendations.

"Inordinate delays in making recommendations in high courts. Situation in some of the high courts is more alarming than the others. Chief justices must make endeavour to recommend names. There appears to be some hesitation in some high courts to recommend names till the earlier recommendations are cleared. This is not required and the recommendation of names should be a continuing process," the court said.

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 17 February 2020, 15:25 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT