HC crawls under collegium norms,98 judges posts vacant

Collegium not convened,77 lakh pending cases at Allahabad.

For more than two years now,no new judges have been appointed to the Allahabad High Court,even as the number of vacant posts has climbed to 98 and pending cases to over 77 lakh,as the collegium that selects new names could not be convened.

Since April 2009,the collegium has finalised a list of names just once but couldnt send it to the Supreme Court for approval as the then chief justice of the Allahabad High Court was under consideration for appointment to the apex court.

The government and political parties have questioned the collegium system of appointment of judges,and it was one of the main points of the Rajya Sabha debate over Justice Soumitra Sens impeachment. The government has already started drafting a Constitution amendment Bill to have judicial panels to select judges.

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The Allahabad High Court is the biggest high court in the country,catering to Indias most populous state. While the total number of sanctioned posts in the court,including the Luck- now bench,is 160,only 62 (less than 40 per cent) are filled right now. Of them,15 are posted at the Lucknow bench and 47 in Allahabad. Currently,77,20,000 cases are pending in Allahabad,while the Lucknow bench has 2,50,000 such cases.

The last time judges were appointed in a chunk to the high court was in April 2009,when 18 judges were taken in. In the last three years,nearly 20 judges have retired but there have been no new appointments.

Highly placed sources said the process of appointment of at least 19 judges 10 from among lawyers and nine from lower judiciary is currently on and could be completed within six to seven months. The new Chief Justice is also set to begin the process of finalising at least another 20 names for judges.

Till 2007,the total number of sanctioned posts for judges in the high court was 95,which was increased to 160. Official sources say that although the vacancies were never completely filled up,the court used to earlier have 80 to 90 per cent of the sanctioned strength of judges.

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However,after the number of posts was increased,the process of new appointments got stuck.

The appointment process,which is lengthy,begins with the collegium of chief justice and two senior-most judges selecting a list of names and then sending it to the Supreme Court for approval.

After the appointment of 18 judges in April 2009,for almost two years,the collegium could not be convened,or the list finalised because of administrative issues,said a senior official.

There was no instance of the list being returned from the higher level. It was just that the collegium could not be convened due to all members not being available. In another instance,a finalised list could not be sent up because the name of the then chief justice was under consideration for elevation to the Supreme Court, said a senior official.

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At the same time,should all the vacant posts be filled,there could be a problem of infrastructure as the high court doesnt have the wherewithal to accommodate 160 judges. Construction is on currently on a multi-storey building to serve as residence of judges,as well as on an extension of the high court.

While blaming the collegium system for the delay,Umesh Narain Sharma,the president of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association,says that still,the disposal rate of cases in the Allahabad High Court was among the finest in the country. There is no doubt that the judges here have been working hard… (But) the pendencies will inevitably go up if vacancies continue to persist, said Sharma.