Bar sends PM suggestions to ‘revolutionise’ judiciary

CHENNAI: Financial independence for judiciary, increasing retirement age of judges in all three tiers of the judiciary, creation of four benches of the Supreme Court and videographing of all court proceedings to usher in greater degree of transparency — these are among the key suggestions made by the All India Bar Association (AIBA) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Justice of India H L Dattu for a fair and efficient administration of justice.
In a representation to the Prime Minister and CJI on Friday, AIBA chairman Adish C Aggarwala said these radical measures would help revolutionise the way judicial machinery is administered. In an 11-point charter of demands, Aggarwala said judiciary should be given total financial independence at all levels so that the institution need not look to the State for financial support to augment infrastructure.
As for the contentious National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) proposal, the memorandum said two “eminent personalities” who would be part of the commission should not have anything to do with judiciary, judges or lawyers. The committee of Prime Minister, CJI and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha must choose eminent personalities who are not lawyers or relatives of any judge. “This is required so that the nominated members can work impartially, without any bias and influence of any kind,” he said.
In the Supreme Court, there should be proportionate representation of states on the basis of their population. In this regard, Aggarwala said there are three judges from Maharashtra which has a population of 110 million, though there is only one from the Uttar Pradesh which has 200 million people. Similarly, there is only one judge each from Bihar (100 million), West Bengal (90 million) and Gujarat (60 million). There is no judge from Rajasthan (68 million), Chhattisgarh (25) and Himachal Pradesh (6 million).
Noting that no retired judge should be appointed in any tribunal or commission, the memorandum said, “Only sitting judges should be appointed to such posts. To enable appointment of sitting judges in the tribunals and commissions, the sanctioned posts of judges should be increased suitably.”
Aggarwala also demanded increase in the age of retirement of judges in all the three tiers of judiciary. In the case of judges of the Supreme Court, the retirement age should be raised to 68 years from the current 65, he said, adding it should be increased to 65 years from 62 years for high court judges. For subordinate judges, the age of retirement should be 62 years, instead of 60 at present, he said.
Promotion of subordinate judges to the high court and from high courts to the Supreme Court should be done only on the basis of seniority, he said, adding that if any judge is not found suitable to be promoted to the higher court, he should be immediately removed from his position.
AIBA chairman also wanted four benches of the Supreme Court across India – one each in east, west, north-east and south. Besides bringing justice to the doorstep of the litigant, this will help move judges of the Supreme Court, whose relatives are practising in the Supreme Court, to a bench where the relative is not practising.
Aggarwala also wanted end to the present system of appointing a judge from another court as chief justice of any particular high court, as they have to be totally reliant on local judges for administration.
He sought videographing of all court proceedings which then should be part of the case file. “Judges, lawyers and litigants, who are all part of the judicial system, will then take the court proceedings more seriously and sincerely,” he said, adding that there would be greater transparency.
“There should be live broadcast of the proceedings of all courts on the official website of that court,” he said.
To become eligible to practise as a lawyer, judicial clerkship of one year should be made mandatory, he said, adding, “they should be paid Rs 25,000 a month as salary.”