18 Collegium recommendations sent back by Central government; 64 still being processed: Rijiju

HC collegiums in breach of six-month advance timeline in sending names to fill anticipated vacancies | Govt has asked SC to finalise MoP for appointment of judges

03/02/2023

NEW DELHI, Feb 2: The Central government has opposed 18 recommendations made by the Supreme Court Collegium for judgeship and has returned those files to the Collegium, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju informed Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Further, 64 recommendations made by the Collegium are pending before the government, Law Minister further informed.
The Law Minister was replying to two questions put by CPI(M) leader John Brittas and Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha.
The first question sought to know the total number of collegium proposals returned by the government on its own to the Supreme Court Collegium during the last three years. Of the 18 sent back, 6 were reiterated by the Collegium. In 7 of them, further inputs were sought from High Court Collegiums while 5 were remitted to the High Courts.
"As on 31.01.2023 there are total 18 proposals on which reconsideration of SCC has been sought. SCC decided to reiterate 06 cases, in 07 cases SCC has desired updated inputs from the High Court Collegiums, and 05 cases have been decided to be remitted by the SCC to the High Courts", the reply stated.
Additionally, in response to a question regarding the recomm-endations wherein approval is still pending from the government, the law minister disclosed that 64 recomm-endations were under various stages of processing.
The response elaborated that against a sanctioned strength of 1,108 judges in various High Courts, there are currently 775 judges while 333 posts are vacant.
Against these vacancies, 142 proposals recommended by the High Court Collegiums are at various stages of processing with the government.
Further, 67 are in the process of being sent to the Supreme Court Collegium and 11 have been deferred by the Supreme Court Collegium.
The reply also discussed data on appointment of judges.
From 2019 to January 2023, 22 judges have been appointed to the Supreme Court and 446 judges have been appointed to various High Courts.
The government on Thursday said it has suggested to the Supreme Court that the search-cum-evaluation committee for the appointment of judges in the apex court and chief justices of high courts should consist of a representative nominated by the Centre.
In a written reply to two separate questions in the Rajya Sabha, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju also said the Centre has not asked the Supreme Court to include a government nominee in the collegium for appointments to the higher judiciary.
Rijiju said in a communication to the apex court January 6, the government has also emphasised the need to finalise the memorandum of procedure (MoP) in view of various judicial pronouncements.
The MoP is a set of documents that guide the elevation, appointment and transfer of Supreme Court and high court judges.
The minister said for the appointment of judges in the high courts, the committee should consist of a representative each nominated by the Centre and the respective state governments.
The search-cum-evaluation committees will be entrusted with preparing a panel of eligible candidates from which the respective collegiums will make the recommendations.
"This, along with other measures suggested, will pave the way for a more
Transparent, accountable and expeditious mechanism for appointment of judges to the constitutional courts (the Supreme Court and the 25 high courts)," Rijiju said.
India has approximately 21 judges per million population, the government said in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, citing the sanctioned strength of the judiciary and census figures of 2011.
In a written reply to a question, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said for calculating the judge-population ratio for per million population in a particular year, the Department of Justice uses the criterion of using the population as per Census 2011 and as per available information regarding sanctioned strength of judges in the Supreme Court, high courts and district and subordinate courts in the particular year.
Based on the population as per the Census 2011 which was 1210.19 million and as per available information regarding sanctioned strength of judges in the Supreme Court, high courts and district and subordinate courts in the year 2023, the judge-population ratio in the country works out to be approximately 21 judges per million population, he said.
Various high court collegiums are in "breach" of the six-month advance timeline in sending recommendations to fill several anticipated vacancies, the government informed Parliament on Thursday.
In three separate written replies to questions in the Rajya Sabha, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju also asserted that the government can seek a reconsideration of the names recommended by the Supreme Court collegium.
Responding to a question on the "breach" of the six-month timeline, Rijiju said as on January 30, "recommendations in respect of 236 vacancies (191 existing and 45 anticipated vacancies during next six months) are yet to be received from High Court collegiums, which are in breach of the six months' advance timeline for making recommendations for anticipated vacancies".
As on January 30, there were a total of 18 proposals on which a reconsideration of the Supreme Court collegium was sought. The top court collegium decided to reiterate six cases, while in seven cases, it has "desired updated inputs" from the high court collegiums. Rijiju said five cases were decided to be remitted by the Supreme Court collegium to various high courts.
He said a total of 142 proposals recommended by the high court collegiums were at "various stages of processing".
Of the 142 proposals, four are pending with the Supreme Court collegium and 138 are under various stages of processing in the government, the minister noted.
According to the existing procedure, the high court collegiums send proposals to appoint judges to the Department of Justice in the law ministry. The department then attaches the Intelligence Bureau (IB) reports on the candidates and forwards it to the Supreme Court collegium to take a call.
Rijiju said as of now, the Supreme Court, with a sanctioned strength of 34 judges, including the chief justice of India, is working with 27 judges.
"The Supreme Court collegium has recently made seven recommendations to fill up all the vacancies of judges in the Supreme Court," he added.
As on January 30, against the sanctioned strength of 1,108 judges in the high courts, 775 judges were working and 333 posts were vacant.

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