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- Rule of law
- Niches
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- Art, literature and more
- Special issues
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]HE former Central Information Commissioner (CIC), Shailesh Gandhi, has written to the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, suggesting ways in which the court can clear the backlog of cases using the current sanctioned strength of judges.
"There are reports that three letters have been sent to the Prime Minister with regard to the judiciary. They suggest constitutional amendments to increase the strength of the Supreme Court Judges and to raise the age of retirement for High Court Judges by three years…I submit that these will be palliatives which will not solve the real problem," Gandhi has said in his letter to CJI Gogoi on June 24, 2019.
Pointing out that the Chief Justice's proposals had made no suggestions for the subordinate courts, which had about 85% of the backlog, the former CIC said he had carefully analysed the data obtained from the Supreme Court's own website and it showed that the shortage was due to judges not being appointed as per the sanctioned posts. "During the twelve year period 2006 to 2017, the average vacancy has been 12% in the Supreme Court, 32% in the high courts and 21% in the subordinate courts," he said.
"The real truth is that the Collegium has never recommended enough names to fill all the vacancies (the recent appointments to the Apex Court is the only exception)," Gandhi said while claiming that if all the positions had been filled up there would be no backlog.
Suggesting to CJI Gogoi that he treat the letter as a PIL and direct the Collegium of the higher courts and the state governments for the subordinate judiciary to fill up all judicial vacancies, Gandhi said, "You have the power and opportunity to make India a nation where there is an effective justice system. I would be very happy to give clarifications and explain the proposition to you, whenever you like."
Gandhi said his proposition had the backing of former Supreme Court judge, BN Srikrishna, adding that he had included his analysis with workings with his letter to show that if all positions were filled up, the backlog would be cleared.
