Aurangabad Bar Association writes to Centre on delays in appointing judges
India Today
Highlighting the suffering of the public due to the high pendency of cases in the Bombay High Court, the Aurangabad Bar Association has asked the Centre to take immediate steps to resolve the issue of delays in the appointment of HC judges.
The Aurangabad Bar Association has shot off a letter to Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju highlighting the grim situation due to the lack of judges in the high court in Maharashtra — the Bombay High Court. The letter read, “The situation is extremely grim, alarming and if continued any further, it would threaten the very survival of the higher judiciary in India. It is not possible to reverse the situation unless immediate steps are taken by the central government under your stewardship.”
The association has also called upon its members on all benches to initiate protests against the delay in appointing high court judges unless the central government acted upon the collegium recommendations at the earliest.
The association stated that the central government and the Supreme Court blamed each other for delays in the appointment of judges. But in all this, it is the citizens and general public who suffer due to the lack of speedy justice. The lack of availability towards dispute resolution leads to anarchy, the representation stated.
The letter stated three reasons for the delay in the appointment of judges. First, names of judges are not sent by the high court in time. Second, when names are forwarded, they remain pending at the executive level for a long time before being sent to the Supreme Court collegium for approval along with input from the executive and, lastly that even after clearance of the names by the Supreme Court collegium, these remain pending at the level of executive.
The letter added, “We must always remember that when legitimate ways of dispute resolution become inaccessible or unavailable, it marks the beginning of the journey towards anarchy.”
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The representation also included the pending cases in the Bombay High Court due to the lack in attaining the approved strength of judges and added that 11 judges were lined up for superannuation from the Bombay High Court when the year began. Out of these, five judges — Justices SP Tavade, SJ Kathawalla, VK Jadhav, VM Deshpande, and SS Jadhav — have already retired. The sixth, Justice AK Menon, is due to retire on July 11.
