New Delhi : A day after Parliament approved scrapping of the collegium system for appointment of judges, Chief Justice of India RM Lodha on Friday said the people in the executive, the legislature and the judiciary need to function within their own assigned spheres without encroaching upon the domain of others.
“I am sure that the people in judiciary, executive and Parliament shall have mutual respect for each other and allow them to work unhindered within their own sphere without being influenced by external forces,” Chief Justice Lodha said.
He was speaking at a function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to celebrate the 68th Independence Day. Responding to criticism that the legal fraternity was not consulted before the central government rushed with the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “For me individually, and for the government the sanctity and independence of judiciary is complete and total.”
He said that for him and for the prime minister and Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, who fought for the restoration of democracy during the dark days of Emergency in mid-1970s, “the sanctity and independence of judiciary is a matter of faith for which we fought”.
Wondering where was the need for the tearing hurry to
rush with the Bill, SCBA Vice-President V. Shekhar frowned upon the fact that the central government chose not to consult the legal fraternity and lawyers before pushing the judicial appointment bill in Parliament.
Saying that the bill will have to meet challenge in the court, Shekhar added: “We the stakeholders were never called upon in the framing of the new law on judicial appointment…there is a hue and cry.”
“It is matter of concern the way bill was rushed through. Heavens would not have fallen. Even now it is not late,” he added. Attorney General Mukul
Rohtagi sought to play down the issue, saying that we should not “squabble over some legislation being passed or not passed”.
In his address, the Chief Justice sought to show the mirror to the government on judicial appointments in subordinate judiciary, where a large number of cases end in acquittal due to poor investigation, weak evidence and improper prosecution.
He said from the Chief Justice of India to the last ‘muffasil’ court in the country, there are 20,000 judicial positions, of which the Supreme Court collegium is mandated to pick judges for 960 positions in high courts and 31 in the apex court. But filling up vacancies in 19,000 positions in subordinate judiciary is the responsibility of the state governments.
He said 266 vacancies exist as of now in the high courts.
