8/11/2015 Untitled Page GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO 52 ANSWERED ON 07.08.2013 JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY 52 . Azad Shri Kirti (Jha) Sule Supriya Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:­ (a) whether the Government is aware of the alleged corruption in judiciary; (b) if so, the steps taken/proposed to be taken to address the issue and to bring in structural reforms in the judicial system; (c) the current status of the proposal to set up All India Judicial Service; (d) whether the Government plans to bring in fairness and transparency in the selection of High Court Judges and also ensure accountability in judicial system; and (e) if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE AND COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI KAPIL SIBAL) (a) to (e) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (e) of the Lok Sabha Starred Question No.52 to be answered on 07.08.2013 regarding ‘Judicial Accountability’. (a) and (b) Representations alleging corruption in judiciary are received in the Government from time to time. As per the established “in­house mechanism” for the higher judiciary, the Chief Justice of India is competent to receive complaints against the conduct of the Judges of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of the High Courts. Similarly, the Chief Justices of the High Courts are competent to receive complaints against the conduct of Judges of their Courts. Administrative control over the members of the subordinate judiciary in the States vests with the concerned High Court. In view of this, the Central Government does not maintain records of such complaints and has no mechanism to monitor the action taken on the same. With a view to enforce greater transparency and accountability in the functioning of the higher judiciary, the Government has moved the Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, which provides for a comprehensive mechanism for handling complaints made by citizens on grounds of alleged misbehavior and incapacity against judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts and for taking action against those found guilty after investigation. The Bill also lays down judicial standards and makes it incumbent on the Judges to declare their assets/ liabilities. (c) The Constitution was amended in 1977 to provide for an All India Judicial Service (AIJS) under Article 312 of the Constitution. There has been support in favour of AIJS by 11th Law Commission in its 116th Report, the First National Judicial Pay Commission, Committee on Centre State Relations and Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee. However, consensus on having AIJS has not been possible in the consultations held with the State Governments and the High Courts. The proposal was recently placed for consideration in the Conference of Chief Ministers of the States and Chief Justices of the High Courts. It has been decided that further consultation on the matter would be required with States and High Courts. (d) and (e) The appointment of Judges to High Courts and Supreme Court is based on a Memorandum of Procedure for Appointment of Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts data:text/html;charset=utf­8,%3Ca%20name%3D%22%23top%22%20style%3D%22text­decoration%3A%20underline%3B%20color%3A%20rgb(0%2C%200… 1/2 8/11/2015 Untitled Page prepared in 1998 pursuant to the Supreme Court Judgement of October 6, 1993 read with their Advisory Opinion of October 28, 1998. Representations have been made by various agencies and expert bodies to review/change the present procedure of appointment of judges. Based on the suggestions received, the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill is under formulation. data:text/html;charset=utf­8,%3Ca%20name%3D%22%23top%22%20style%3D%22text­decoration%3A%20underline%3B%20color%3A%20rgb(0%2C%200… 2/2 8/11/2015 Untitled Page GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 501 ANSWERED ON 07.08.2013 APPOINTMENT OF HIGH COURT JUDGES 501 . Gandhi Shri Dilip Kumar Mansukhlal Reddy Shri K. Jayasurya Prakash Bauri Smt. Susmita Putul Kumari Smt. Choudhry Smt. Shruti Rana Shri Jagdish Singh Pandey Saroj Biswal Shri Hemanand Premajibhai Dr. Solanki Kiritbhai De Dr. Ratna Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:­ (a) the number of vacancies of judges at different levels in the country and the number of pending cases, State­wise; (b) whether the Government has received recommendations from any State Government including Maharashtra for appointment of High Court judges; (c) if so, the details thereof; (d) the reaction of the Government on these recommendations; (e) whether there has been any delay in taking a decision on these recommendations; and (f) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefore along with the steps taken by the Government in this regard? ANSWER MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE AND COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI KAPIL SIBAL) (a) The number of vacancies of judges in High Courts and the Supreme Court of India and Court­ wise number of pending cases are given in the Statement at Annex. I The vacancies of judges in the Subordinate Courts and the number of pending cases therein are given in the Statement at Annex. II. (b) to (f) 82 proposals for appointment of Judges have been received from 12 High Courts including 2 proposals from the High Court of Bombay. Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts are appointed as per the procedure laid down in the Memorandum of Procedure (M.O.P.) formulated in 1998 pursuant to the Supreme Court Judgement of October 6, 1993 read with their Advisory Opinion of October 28, 1998. As per the M.O.P., the process of initiation of proposal for appointment of a Judge of the Supreme Court rests with Chief Justice of India and for the appointment of a Judge of the High Court rests with the Chief Justice of that High Court. Filling up of the vacancies in the High Courts is a time consuming process, as it requires consultation and approval from various Constitutional authorities. While every effort is made to fill up the existing vacancies expeditiously, vacancies do keep on arising on account of retirement, resignation or elevation of Judges. Annex.I referred to in reply to part (a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.501 for answer on 07.08.2013. data:text/html;charset=utf­8,%3Ca%20name%3D%22%23top%22%20style%3D%22text­decoration%3A%20underline%3B%20color%3A%20rgb(0%2C%200… 1/7 8/11/2015 Untitled Page S.No. Name of the Court Vacancies of Judges Number of pending as on 1.08.2013 cases As on 28.02.2013 A Supreme Court of 3 66809 High Court As on 31.03.2012 1 Allahabad 68 10,08,533 2 Andhra Pradesh 22 1,99,229 3 Bombay 16 3,62,948 4 Calcutta 21 3,50,260 5 Chhattisgarh 08 52,264 6 Delhi 07 63,012 7 Gauhati 07 51,899 8 Gujarat 11 79,529 9 Himachal Pradesh 03 48,743 10 Jammu & Kashmir 03 85,298 data:text/html;charset=utf­8,%3Ca%20name%3D%22%23top%22%20style%3D%22text­decoration%3A%20underline%3B%20color%3A%20rgb(0%2C%200… 2/7 8/11/2015 Untitled Page 11 Jharkhand 09 58,511 12 Karnataka 14 1,71,463 13 Kerala 08 1,23,437 14 Madhya Pradesh 10 2,35,150 15 Madras 17 4,83,848 16 Manipur 02 17 Meghalaya 0 18 Orissa 07 3,07,528 19 Patna 10 1,15,329 20 Punjab& Haryana 21 2,43,733 21 Rajasthan 09 2,79,577 22 Sikkim 01 69 data:text/html;charset=utf­8,%3Ca%20name%3D%22%23top%22%20style%3D%22text­decoration%3A%20underline%3B%20color%3A%20rgb(0%2C%200… 3/7 8/11/2015 Untitled Page 23 Tripura 0 24 Uttarakhand 01 20,507 Total 275 43,40,867 Newly created High Courts Annex.II referred to in reply to part (a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.501 for answer on 07.08.2013. S.No. State/Union Vacancies in Subordinate Number of pending Territory Courts as on 31.03.2012 cases as on 31.03.2012 concerned 1 Uttar Pradesh 268 57,98,272 2 Andhra Pradesh 117 9,17,620 3.a Maharashtra 185 31,44,426 3.b Goa 7 30,052 3.c Daman, Diu & Silvasa 0 4,997 4 West Bengal 156 26,38,937 5 Chhatisgarh 38 2,66,220 data:text/html;charset=utf­8,%3Ca%20name%3D%22%23top%22%20style%3D%22text­decoration%3A%20underline%3B%20color%3A%20rgb(0%2C%200… 4/7 8/11/2015 Untitled Page 6 Delhi 158 6,89,766 7 Gujarat 852 21,97,565 8.a Assam 108 2,64,204 8.b Meghalya 22 3,357 8.c Tripura 27 43,954 8.d Manipur 5 14,238 8.e Nagaland 6 4,130 8.f Mizoram 32 4,426 8.g Arunachal Pradesh 0 6,148 9 Himachal Pradesh 17 1,95,018 10 Jammu and Kashmir 17 2,07,588 11 Jharkhand 89 2,98,240 data:text/html;charset=utf­8,%3Ca%20name%3D%22%23top%22%20style%3D%22text­decoration%3A%20underline%3B%20color%3A%20rgb(0%2C%200… 5/7 8/11/2015 Untitled Page 12 Karnataka 174 11,15,280 13.a Kerala 36 10,71,305 13.b Lakshadweep 1 240 14.a Tamil Nadu 123 11,93,541 14.b Puducherry 7 27,141 15 Madhya Pradesh 151 11,29,432 16 Orissa 79 11,59,482 17 Bihar 507 16,28,291 18.a Punjab 116 5,44,972 18.b Haryana 124 5,94,733 18.c Chandigarh 0 57,890 19.