[Judges Appointments] Bombay High Court Bar body writes to Kiren Rijiju after 10 names yet to be cleared by government; calls for protest

The Advocates' Association of Bombay High Court at Aurangabad has addressed a letter to Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju taking objection to the delays in clearing appointment of judges to the Bombay High Court..The representation has called upon the members of bar associations of all benches of the High Court to initiate protest against the delay in appointing High Court judges, until the Central government acts upon the collegium recommendations at the earliest.The letter specifically highlighted names of nine lawyers whose appointment as judges were recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium in February 2022 but are yet to be cleared,In March 2021, the Supreme Court Collegium had recommended names of nine lawyers for appointment as judges of Bombay High Court. This list was revised in February 2022, when the Collegium recommended ten lawyers for elevation, which are yet to be cleared by the Central government. The names are: Kishore Chandrakant SantValmiki Menezes SAKamal Rashmi KhataSharmila Uttamrao DeshmukhArun Ramnath PednekarSandeep Vishnupant MarneGauri Vinod GodseRajesh Shantaram PatilArif Saleh Doctor, and Somasekhar SundaresanNine of the above ten names have been highlighted in the letter written by the association to Rijiju. .It further said that due to “bickerings between the Executive and Judiciary” with the Central government and the Supreme Court accusing each other for the delay in appointments of judges, the citizens and general public become real victims as they do not get speedy justice.The representation said that many times, the High Court Collegium does not forward names for appointments. Even if the same is done, it remains pending with the Executive for a long time before it is sent to the Supreme Court Collegium. Subsequently, even if the Supreme Court Collegium clears the names, it remains pending at the executive level, the letter alleged. All these lead to delay, sometimes going beyond a year, in clearing names of Bar members for judgeship and it has created an uncertainty in the minds of lawyers whose names have been recommended.“Their fate hangs in balance for indefinite time, giving rise to unnecessary conjectural debates. It leads to unpleasant situations, which can be avoided,” the letter underscored..It also gave details of the pending cases in High Court due to the deficiency in attaining the approved strength of judges..“The situation is extremely grim, alarming and if continued any further, it would threaten the very survival of the higher judiciary in India. It is not possible to reverse the situation unless immediate steps are taken by the Central government under your stewardship,” the association emphasized..Eleven judges were lined up superannuation from the Bombay High Court when the year 2022 began. Out of these, five judges - Justices SP Tavade, SJ Kathawalla, VK Jadhav, VM Deshpande and SS Jadhav - have already retired. The sixth in the line, Justice AK Menon is due to retire on Monday, July 11.If no new appointments are made, the working strength of the High Court will come down from 57 to 46 by the end of this year, as against its sanctioned strength of 94 judges.In June 2022, two judges of the Bombay High Court were elevated as Chief Justices and transferred to Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan respectively.Chief Justice Dipankar Datta had on two separate occasions had bemoaned in open court about the vacancy position in the High Court and the strain of workload on other judges due to the same..[Read Representation]

[Judges Appointments] Bombay High Court Bar body writes to Kiren Rijiju after 10 names yet to be cleared by government; calls for protest

Neha Joshi

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