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Updated February 4th, 2020 at 22:56 IST

Rajya Sabha MP Wilson accuses Centre of sitting on reccomendations for judges' appointment

Highlighting the urgent need to raise the issue of long-standing appointments of judges in the court, P Wilson accused the Centre of sitting on recommendations.

Reported by: Rishabh Mishra
Rajya Sabha
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Highlighting the urgent need to raise the alarming issue of the long-standing appointment of judges in courts, Rajya Sabha MP, P Wilson on Tuesday accused the Centre of sitting on recommendations. He underlined that the High Courts are functioning with only 50% of judges. Wilson also said that the time for resolving the standoff between Executive and Judiciary for the appointment of High Court judges within a time limit has arrived.  

P Wilson on the appointment of judges 

Speaking in the upper house of Parliament, DMK leader P Wilson said, “Most High Courts are functioning with only 50% of their sanctioned strength. Shockingly, it has recently come to light that there are about 213 names recommended for appointment by the collegium of the Supreme Court, but the Government is simply sitting over these recommendations without getting the approval of the President for months together for reasons best known to it.” 

He further stated that these recommendations should be processed within a clear and mandatory time frame. Underlining the important numbers, P Wilson added that the High Courts has been seeing a steady decrease in the appointment of judges after NJAC (National Judicial Appointments Commission). He said that only 115, 108 and 65 judges were appointed to the High Courts in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. 

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'Vacancies continue to increase'

"Such an inordinate delay in the processing of names recommended by the Supreme Court collegium directly affects the administration of justice, which is a sovereign function. Simultaneously, due to retirements and elevations, the vacancies continue to increase. Therefore, in my view, if this situation continues, the functioning of the High Courts throughout the country will be totally crippled, which does not benefit national interest,” Wilson added.  

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Informing the house about the incidents that occur, Wilson also said that the recommendations sent by Chief Justices of High Court are sometimes repeatedly returned by the Central government without any valid reasons. He requested the Prime Minister, Minister for Law and Justice and Cabinet Ministers to take a decision on the pending recommendations. He also asked them to "ensure that there is a mandatory time frame in the MOP for each stage of the appointment process". 

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"Access to Justice is an inalienable fundamental right of citizens. This right is defeated if our higher judiciary is crippled due to vacancies. People should not lose faith in the judiciary and adopt extra-constitutional methods due to the delay in disposal of cases," he added. 

(With ANI Inputs)

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Published February 4th, 2020 at 22:56 IST

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