Vacancies continue to pose a challenge in new year too

New Delhi: With about 400 vacancies of Judges in the High Courts remaining unfilled for almost one year, the new Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur faces a daunting task to fill these posts.

With the revival of the collegium system of judicial appointments, the CJI and his team of judges in the collegium is expected to make the appointments in a more transparent manner. There are now five vacancies in the apex court to be filled immediately.

Under the present system the High Court collegium will select the names and seeks comments from the State government. But the new MoP contemplates that eligibility criteria such as the minimum age may be indicated for the guidance of the collegium (both at the level of the High Court and the Supreme Court) for appointment of Judges, after inviting and taking into consideration the views of the State Government and the Government of India (as the case may be) from time to time.

Since the apex court has asked the Union Law Ministry to come out with a revised Memorandum of Procedure, the Law Minister Sadananda Gowda has written to all the Chief Ministers seeking the views of the respective State governments, which will help in finalizing the MoP in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.

The CJI who has a 13-month tenure is also expected to take steps to clear some 60,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court and 3 crore cases in all the courts across the country.

There has been a lost of criticism that the Supreme Court appointed SIT has not been able to bring back the black money stashed abroad. With the implementation of various steps suggested by the SIT including amending various provisions of law, the common man can expect that the Narendra Modi government will be able to fulfill its promise.

With a view to reducing the pollution level in the capital, the Supreme Court has banned registration of diesel vehicles of 2000 cc and above and SUVs which are generally used by more affluent sections of our society as they more prone to cause higher levels of pollution. The court is expected to take up the matter this month to find out ways and means to reduce air pollution in Delhi.

In 2015 the apex court ruled that even death-row convicts have right to life and personal liberty and no one can be hanged without following the due procedure. Taking this analogy to the logical end, it gave ample opportunity to Mumbai blast convict, Yakub Memon to opportunity to knock the doors of the apex court in the wee hours of July 30 seeking stay of his execution. After a full hearing the court dismissed his plea and he was executed in the early morning.