New CJI takes charge amid standoff on judge vacancies

NEW DELHI: The Union government is in a piquant situation as its near-fivemonth silence on the Supreme Court collegium’s recommendation to appoint six advocates as judges of the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh high court has virtually stalled the selection process for appointment of judges to the SC and HCs.

By the end of this month, the SC will have six vacancies and HCs are reeling under near 40% vacancy, with 407 of 1,079 judges’ posts vacant as of August 1.

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Unless a solution is found quickly, new Chief Justice Dipak Misra will find the going tough as the most senior judge in the SC, Justice J Chelameswar, has taken a non-negotiable stand that unless the Centre takes a decision on the recommendation for six appointments to the Telangana and AP HC, he will not take part in collegium meetings.

There has been no collegium meeting since July 20, when former CJI J S Khehar had circulated an agenda for filling up four vacancies in the SC among members — Justices Misra, Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi and Madan B Lokur.

Justice Khehar recorded in the minutes of the meeting, “Justice Chelameswar informed the members of the collegium that he would abstain from participating in the proceedings because recommendation of the collegium pertaining to six judges to the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh HC had not been cleared by the government of India despite the fact that the recommendation was made on 4/6 April, 2017. He also stated that he would, in principle, not like to participate in any further proceedings of the collegium till such time the government takes a decision on the above recommendation.

“The members of the collegium felt that the proceedings should not be conducted in the absence of... one of its members. Proceedings were accordingly deferred.”

The six advocates recommended for appointment to the Telangana & AP HC are DVSS Somyajulu, K Vijaya Lakshmi, P Keshava Rao, Manthoj Ganga Rao, A K Shavili and T Amarnath Goud. The HC has a sanctioned strength of 61 judges, but 34 posts are vacant. Justice Misra will have to devise a way to expeditiously fill the vacancies in HCs and open a window for talks with the government to implement the earlier recommendations of the collegium for various HCs.

The Allahabad HC, with a sanctioned strength of 160 judges, has 69 vacancies; 20 of Bombay HC’s 94 posts are vacant; as are 39 of Calcutta HC’s72; 22 of Delhi HC’s 60; 21 of Madras HC’s75; 21 of

Gujarat

HC’s 52; 34 of Karnataka HC’s 62; and 34 of Punjab and

Haryana HC

’s 85.