Collegium target again: Govt says new system to appoint judges is the need

Rijiju’s remarks in the House came days after he criticised the Collegium system as being “opaque” and the Vice-President called the Supreme Court’s 2015 judgement striking down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act a “severe compromise” of parliamentary sovereignty and disregard of the “mandate of the people”.

Replying to a question by Congress MP Rajeev Shukla in the Rajya Sabha on the number of working days of courts, Rijiju said the number of pending cases in the country was nearing 5 crore, having reached 4.90 crore.

He said there were many reasons for this, but the “primary one is the appointment of judges” and vacancies in the sanctioned strength.

The Minister’s written reply stated that the sanctioned strength of the Supreme Court, High Courts, district and subordinate courts was 25,011 and the working strength was 19,192 as on December 12, 2022. He said 46 judges had been appointed to the Supreme Court from May 1, 2014 to December 5, 2022. The reply stated that 69,598 cases were pending in the Supreme Court as on December 1, 2022, as per the court’s own website, and 59.56 lakh cases were pending in High Courts.

“At this point, the government has very limited powers to reduce vacancies… I don’t want to comment much on the courts as it sometimes looks like the government is trying to interfere with the court’s powers. If you look at the provisions of the Constitution, the process of appointments was the right of the government with the consultation of the court. This changed after 1993. We are giving our support to end the pendency of cases, but till we don’t set up a new system for appointments, questions on the appointment of judges will keep being raised,” he said.

Citing the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2014, Rijiju said Parliament had unanimously passed the Bill, but it was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015. He said the current system of appointment of judges – the Collegium system – did not reflect the feelings of the public and the House. He said many retired judges, including members of the Constitution Bench that struck down the NJAC, have since stated publicly that striking down a Bill passed by Parliament was not right.

In reply to DMK MP Tiruchi Siva’s supplementary question on the number of women, SC, ST and OBC judges, the Minister said there was no reservation policy, but the government had written to Chief Justices of High Courts to keep in mind disadvantaged groups while recommending names for appointment as judges. Until now, there had been just one judge from the ST community, he said.

On the issue of vacations, the Minister’s reply stated that the Supreme Court had 224, 217 and 202 working days in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively. Similarly, all High Courts usually have an average of 210 working days a year.

In a supplementary question, BJP MP Sushil Modi asked the Minister if the government would speak to the Chief Justice to switch from vacations for the whole court to individual judges taking vacations at different times of the year.

In response, Minister of State for Law and Justice S P Singh Baghel said that the Supreme Court and High Courts decide their own working days and the government did not have a role. “But there is no harm in talking,” he said.

In response to a similar suggestion by Congress MP Vivek Tankha, Rijiju said: “Definitely, there is a feeling among people of India that the long vacation which the courts obtain is not very convenient for justice-seekers. Definitely, as the Law Minister, it is also my bounded obligation and duty to convey the message or sense of this House to the judiciary. Will definitely ensure that even if there are vacations, the functioning of the court should not be stopped.”