NDA govt wants CJI JS Khehar to fix judges logjam

New Delhi: The NDA government wants the new Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar to remove the logjam in judicial appointments for over a year. The CJI has responded immediately by recommending five names for appointment as Judges to the apex court.

With the former CJI T.S. Thakur squarely blaming the Centre for the stalemate, no fresh appointments were made to the apex court and various High Courts resulting in piling up of vacancies and accumulation of arrears. Justice Thakur used two public interest petitions to voice his grievance against the government.

There are eight vacancies in the apex court, of which five are to be filled within few days. There are more than 430 vacancies in the High Courts, which has a sanctioned strength of 1,079. So most High Courts are working at 50 per cent strength.

During Justice Thakur’s period since there was an inordinate delay in finalising the Memorandum of Procedure relating to judicial appointments, the process of filling the vacancies is being delayed. The collegium headed by the new CJI Khehar has almost finalized the MoP and it is likely to be sent back to the Union law ministry in the next few days.

The Supreme Court has a pendency of over 60,000 cases, various High Courts have 45 lakh cases and trial courts around 2.75 crore cases making it a total of around 3.25 crore cases, which may even cross four crore in a year.

Soon after the new CJI Khehar took over, the Centre has drawn the attention of Justice Khehar to the fact that after the verdict quashing the National Judicial Appointments Commission, the MoP has to be put in place.