With the proposed All India Judicial Service failing to take off, Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda has sought to know from chief justices of high courts about steps taken by them to bring transparency in judicial services examinations in their states.
Gowda's letter, sent in May, was incidentally written just weeks before he requested the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court to look into allegations that kin of sitting judges of the court were favoured in the Delhi Judicial Services examinations.
As a consensus once again eluded the April, 2015 conference of High Court Chief Justices and Chief Ministers on setting up the All India Judicial Services, the matter was left to the judiciary to bring transparency in holding judicial service exams in their respective states.
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In his letter, the Law Minister has reminded them of the conference and has asked them to spell out steps taken to bring in transparency in examination for appointments of judges in lower courts.
Government favours standardisation of process to select members of the lower judiciary.
The plan of establishing an all-India service for judicial officers is hanging fire since the 1960s with some states opposing the idea on various grounds.
In November, 2012 a Committee of Secretaries chaired by the Cabinet Secretary had approved a "comprehensive proposal" for creation of the service. It was included as an agenda in the 2013 conference which decided that the issue needs more deliberation and consideration.
"...Divergence of opinion among the state governments and the high courts on constitution of All India Judicial Services still persists," Gowda had informed the Rajya Sabha in the last Parliament session.
One of the problems cited is that since several states have used powers under CrPC and CPC to declare that the local language would be used in lower courts even for writing orders, a person say selected from Tamil Nadu may find it difficult to hold proceedings in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
