SC Bench Gives 4 Weeks To Govt To Respond To PIL Filed By NGO
Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: 27.1.2020
A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde on Thursday sought responses from the SC and the Union government on a PIL seeking re-employment of retired judges in the SC and high courts by using existing constitutional provisions to fill the large number of vacancies and speed up justice delivery.
The bench, comprising the CJI and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, gave four weeks to the Centre and the SC to respond to the PIL filed by NGO ‘Lok Prahari’ after its general secretary S N Shukla said Articles 128 and 224A of the Constitution allowed recalling retired judges to function in the SC and HCs, respectively.
The NGO said given that over 43 lakh cases were pending in HCs, which were functioning at just 40% of the sanctioned strength, the SC and the Centre should resort to the two constitutional provisions to bring in retired judges to decide pending matters, thus allowing regular judges to concentrate on deciding petitions raising important constitutional matters.
Article 128 says, “Chief Justice of India may at any time, with the previous consent of the President, request any person who has held the office of a judge of the Supreme Court (or who has held the office of a judge of an HC and is duly qualified for appointment as a judge of the SC) to sit and act as a judge of the SC.” Article 224A provides a similar mechanism for appointment of retired HC judges to sit as judges of the HC.
Before declaration of Emergency in 1975, there were instances of retired SC judges getting re-appointed for a specific tenure to help dispose of cases.
Appearing for the SC, senior advocate Atmaram NS Nadkarni said it was a complex question that needed detailed deliberation by the SC on the administrative side. The CJI-led bench said, “We would like to hear the views of the Supreme Court and the Union government.” Appearing for the Centre, solicitor general Tushar Mehta sought four weeks to file a response to the PIL.
However, understanding the difficulty in resorting to the two constitutional provisions to re-appoint retired judges, the CJI said, “It may appear easy from outside.” Given the partisan utterances of judges, soon after their retirement, either pro- or antigovernment, it would be a herculean task for the CJI-led collegium to select neutral retired judges for re-appointment. Most retired judges also take up arbitration matters or get close to corporate houses, further complicating the process of selection.
Given the partisan utterances of judges, soon after their retirement, either pro- or anti-government, it would be a herculean task for the CJI-led collegium to select neutral retired judges for re-appointment
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