SC rejects plea for centralised mechanism for appointment of judges in lower courts

The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a PIL seeking centralised system for selection and appointment of judicial officers in lower courts across the country.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Monday dismissed the plea, filed by an NGO, seeking enforcement of the apex court's decisions of 1991 and 1996 which had favoured setting up of 'All India Judicial Services' to fill vacancies of judges in lower courts.

"These are not the matters to be decided by the Supreme Court in judicial side," the bench, also comprising justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, said.

The fervent plea of S K Shukla, general secretary of NGO Lok Prahari and a former bureaucrat, that he be allowed to argue the case was declined by the court which said, "We will not permit you even a minute".

"Having heard the petitioner in-person and upon perusing the relevant material, we are not inclined to entertain the present writ petition. The same is accordingly dismissed," the bench noted in its order.

Recently, the top court, on its own, has taken note over 5,000 vacant posts of judicial officers in lower courts across the country. Terming the extent of vacancies as "wholly unacceptable", he had sought information from all the 24 high courts as also states in this regard.

It had directed all the high courts and 36 states and Union Territories to apprise it of steps taken to fill up vacancies and for providing infrastructure for courts and the judges.

The court, which is monitoring the case, has also sought the time frame from the states and the high courts for completing the recruitment drive and construction of court rooms and residences for judges in the country.