Centre wants to get 'foothold' in judiciary: Congress on CJI statement for appointing judges

With Chief Justice T. S. Thakur once again highlighting the issue of vacancies in the judiciary and the huge backlog of cases, the Congress Party on Monday described it as a cry of agony from the head of the third most important organ of the state i.e. the judicial organ.

Speaking to ANI, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the Centre have no business to sit upon, to delay, to obstruct and to retire the appointment of hundreds of judges across the country at the high court and the Supreme Court level.

"It is a cry of pain and agony which has been going on for several months. The real issue perhaps the Chief Justice did not state so openly since he is after all the head of an organ is that this government has unnecessarily treated this as an ego issue and has created an open confrontation with the judiciary," he added.

He further said there is unfortunately a clear attempt to select nominee, choose nominees, reject others nominees and somehow to get a foothold in the judiciary which is reprehensible and cuts at the very roots of the judicial independence which in turn is part of basic structure of the Indian Constitution.

"Apart from this devious political agenda...at this point it is nothing but a mere delay and obstruction in appointments. I hope and trust that the government takes it at the right spirit, in a positive spirit and acts immediately because this is not the first limit. Not the warning as it has been going for months. But the government seems held bend upon being inflexible and obstinate," he added.

Reiterating the need for more judges in India, Chief Justice Thakur at the first conference of judicial officers in Chhattisgarh said, that "we may keep on inviting foreign direct investment and raising slogans about progress" but it is essential that the judicial system also improve to deal with disputes arising from this progress.

The CJI said India had just 18,000 judges in a country of 1.2 billion. This is embarrassing because the Law Commission had spoken of having 40,000 judges almost 30 years ago.

This in a major way is a factor behind the delay in judicial processes and untertrials having to stay in jail year after year.

Anyone conversant with judicial processes knows that parties not directly involved in litigation are also affected by slow justice delivery. The country's high courts have about 4 million cases waiting to be cleared. If one adds to that the figure about 30 million in the subordinate courts and the number works out to close to about 34 million.