Herculean challenge to fill up 41% existing high court vacancies, says CJI Ramana; lauds Collegium members for constructive role in reducing SC vacancies

CHIEF Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana Saturday lauded Collegium judges, Justices UU Lalit, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao, for their active and constructive role in reducing the vacancies in the Supreme Court to just one.

"It has been my endeavour to address the issue of vacancies in the higher judiciary on an urgent basis. A while ago, I was referred to as Sachin Tendulkar. I must correct the perception here. Like any game, it is a team effort. Unless all the members of the team perform well, it is difficult to win. Here, I must place on record my sincere thanks to my colleagues in the Collegium – Brothers U U Lalit, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and L. Nageswara Rao – who have become active and constructive partners in this endeavour. Due to the collective efforts, as you are all aware, we could reduce the number of vacancies in the Apex Court to just one", CJI Ramana said at a felicitation function organised by the Bar Council of India (BCI) in his honour.

Referring to the 82 names recommended by the Collegium recently for appointment as high court judges, the CJI expressed the hope the Government would ensure that the names were cleared at the earliest just the way the nine names for the apex court were cleared.

"It is an ongoing process. We hope to live up to the herculean challenge of filling nearly 41% vacancies existing in all the High Courts," he said.

The CJI said after 75 years of independence, one would expect at least 50% representation for women at all levels, but he could, with great difficulty, manage to achieve a mere 11% representation of women on the bench of the Supreme Court.

"Some States, because of reservation policy may reveal higher representation, but the reality remains that the legal profession still has to welcome women into its fold", he said.

CJI Ramana flagged the issue of inadequate judicial infrastructure. The judicial system is facing difficult challenges like deficient infrastructure, shortage of administrative staff and huge vacancies of judges. He said he had a proposal to address this issue in a time-bound manner.

"A comprehensive proposal for the creation of National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation is under preparation. We have collected the status report from across the country. A proposal in this regard will reach the Law Minister very soon. I expect full cooperation from the Government", he said.

He also praised the chairperson of the BCI Manan Kumar Mishra for always standing by the institution.

Click here to read the full text of the speech here