Centre seeks parties' views on all-India judicial service

The Supreme Court's plan to explore whether a single agency can hold the examination to fill up vacancies in the lower judiciary has come as a morale booster for the Centre, which is convincing states and political parties to support its plan for an all-India judicial service.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had touched the issue at a recent meeting of parliamentary consultative committee on Law and Justice, which he heads.
He has written to all the MPs attached to the committee seeking their views on the proposed service.
But seven States, including BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, have opposed the formation of an all-India judicial service, a 60-year-old proposal which has received a fresh push from the Modi government.

Another BJP-ruled state, Maharashtra, wants recruitment for the all-India judicial service (AIJS) to be done in a particular manner which the Law Ministry feels was "not in consonance" with the provisions of the service included in the Constitution.
According to a Law Ministry note on AIJS circulated to members of a Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached with the Ministry, the Governments of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Odisha and Uttarakhand want major changes in the proposal formulated by the Centre.

"State Governments of Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Punjab do not favour formation of AIJS. The Maharashtra Government wants recruitment to be done at judicial magistrate (first class) level which is not in consonance with the provisions of AIJS included in the Constitution," it said.

Besides these 13 states, "no response" has been received from the rest, the note says.
Concerned over the rising vacancies in subordinate judiciary and huge pendency of cases, the Supreme Court today decided to examine proposals of government on judicial reforms and sought the views of the state governments on a central selection mechanism for judicial officers.
There are nearly 5000 vacancies in the lower judiciary.