Skip to main content

Modi government sitting on 170 high court judges' appointment, lack of judicial reforms: Prashant Bhushan

 
Top Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan has sharply criticized the Government of India (GoI) for sitting on 170 recommendations by the Supreme Court collegium for appointments to High Courts over last two months, saying this has come about after the Supreme Court struck down the GoI’s wanting to have a National Judicial Appointments Commission.
Pointing towards the recent “anguish” by India’s chief justice TS Thakur over lack of “greater government participation”, Bhushan, who is convener of the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) said, the Chief Justice’s speech revealed that the “efficient functioning of the judiciary rested on steady and regular appointments, which were being stalled by the government’s inaction in clearing appointments.
The chief justice, while addressing recent joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts and the Supreme Court two days ago, had said though the Law Commission had, in 1987, recommended a five-fold increase in the total strength of judges, to roughly 50 judges per million population, the strength of the judges has hardly been increased since then.
This, according to Thakur, had led to a situation where three crore cases are pending in lower courts, several lakh in High Courts and thousands in the Supreme Court. Even then the Central and State governments have been passing the buck.
“With the government and judiciary at loggerheads, and a completely opaque system of appointments to the higher judiciary, there is little scope for improvement in the present system which is shrouded in secrecy”, Bhushan said in a statement on behalf of the CJAR.
Criticizing the GoI for running “an opaque, secretive and arbitrary system of appointment and transfers”, which is giving rise to “nepotistic considerations”, Bhushan said, “With no criterion laid down for selecting judges and no methodical or objective evaluation of proposed appointees on any criteria, the system will continue to suffer from inefficiencies”, he added.
Recalling that CJAR had written to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in March this year requesting for a public consultation on the new Memorandum of Procedure being drafted for Supreme Court and High Court appointments, Bhushan said, CJAR even sent a draft memorandum “which includes various sub clauses that will ensure transparency.”
The draft memorandum contains, among other things, “provisions for the appointment of not only the most meritorious and but also of those persons who are in tune with the egalitarian constitutional philosophy and who have some sensitivity and understanding of the problems of the common people of the country.”
Pointing towards how “a vast majority of citizens cannot afford lawyers”, Bhushan said, an accused therefore remains at “the mercy of the police and the judiciary.” He added, “That is why about 50% of the people who have been granted bail cannot avail of the bail because of a lack of knowledge regarding bail or not having sufficient funds or someone to stand as a guarantor.”
Regretting that the Gram Nyayalaya Bill, envisaging setting up informal courts at the local level where people could access courts for ordinary disputes without lawyers has been abandoned, Bhushan said, “The impassioned appeal by the chief justice “should be taken as a wakeup call for the government” to have judicial reforms in various aspects of the functioning of the judiciary, including “appointments, transfers, infrastructure development and others.”

Comments

TRENDING

When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

Despite Hindutva hold claim, 18% Hindus in US don't want to be identified with Hinduism!

Scanning through news items on the Google News app on my mobile — which is what I do almost every morning — I came across a story published on India.com, which I found somewhat misleading. The headline said, "Muslim population drops significantly in THIS country as over 25% Muslims leave Islam due to…, the country is…"

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

Beyond Indus water treaty suspension: A 'nationalist' push despite harsh climate realities

The suspension of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) appears to have pushed the middle classes, at least in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, Gujarat, further towards what the powers-that-be would consider—a "positive" direction. As usual, during my morning walk, I tried talking with a neighbour about what impact it would have. Ignoring what is widely considered a "security lapse," this person, who had just returned after buying milk, compared the Modi move with Trump.

Adani Group a key player in Indo-Israel defence cooperation: Tel Aviv daily

Said to be one of the most influential Israeli dailies, "Haaretz" (literally: News of the Land) has identified the Adani Group—known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi—as one of the key Indian business houses engaged in defence cooperation with Israel. Pointing out that India supplied the Israeli military with Hermes 900 drones, the daily reported that this advanced aerial vehicle came off “the production line in a factory set up in Hyderabad, as part of the cooperation between the Israeli Elbit and India's Adani Group.”

A sector under siege? War and real estate: Navigating uncertainty in India's expanding market

I was a little surprised when I received an email alert from a top real estate consultant, Anarock Group , titled "Exploring War’s Effects on Indian Real Estate—When Conflict Meets Concrete," authored by its regional director and head of research, Dr. Prashant Thakur. I had thought that the business would wholeheartedly support what is considered a strong response to the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor. 

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Environmental concern? Global NGO leads campaign urging banks to cut ties with Odisha steel project

A decade after the withdrawal of the South Korean multinational POSCO from Odisha following large-scale protests, questions remain about whether India-based JSW Steel, which took over the project, can successfully revive the 13.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) steel plant and coal-fired power plant. POSCO initiated the project in 2005 but exited in 2017 due to sustained local opposition.

Irrational? Basis for fear among Hindus about being 'swamped' by Muslims

I was amused while reading an article titled "Ham Paanch, Hamare Pachees", shared on Facebook, by well-known policy analyst Mohan Guruswamy, an alumnus of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Guruswamy, who has also worked as an advisor to the Finance Minister with the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, seeks to probe, as he himself states, "the supposed Muslim attitude to family planning"—a theme that was invoked by Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister ahead of the December 2002 assembly polls.

Olympics ready? Overflowing gutters in Amit Shah's high profile constituency: Vejalpur, beyond

A few days ago, I was talking to a close acquaintance who used to live in Bawla, a small town about 35 km west of Ahmedabad. It's an industrial hub with rice processing mills, cotton ginning units, and pharmaceutical companies. The acquaintance, from a very ordinary middle-class background, lived there because his son worked in one of the major pharmaceutical units nearby. However, he recently moved to a housing society in Ahmedabad, and I asked him why.