Supreme Court: Centre Not Appointing Judges Causing Judicial Delay After Collegium Clearances Took Place

CASE BACKGROUNDS

• In an order issued on August 9th 2021, Monday, the Supreme Court noted that the Government not employing Supreme Court judges years after the references and commendations were released had resulted in postponements and delays in resolving cases which was a rather “unruly stance”.
• The Division Bench constituted of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Hrishikesh Roy made these momentous annotations while hearing an application for special leave in the contradiction of an injunction for an anti-dumping case from the Court.

CASE PROCEEDINGS

• The Supreme Court’s chamber propounded that the High Court was unable to hear the case early because it is working at half speed and that they were equipped with problems raised in petitions due to the Government’s reluctance to appoint more Supreme Court judges even though the collegium had long before given the needful recommendations.
• The bench found that the “real catch” was that the High Court found it unreasonable to consider such matters early on.
• This was a result of the direct insufficiency of the number of judges on the High Court which included the country’s capital High Court.
• The judicial authority of the High Courts, as a result, was operating with scarcer judges, so it would become almost incredibly impossible to reach an initial decision even on significantly important matters.

RELEVANT SUBMISSIONS

• The Law Minister responded that more than 435 posts (constituting around 50% of posts) were lying vacant and it was informed that it was not in anyone’s capacity to indicate the time period required for filling up the empty posts as it was an ongoing, very collaborative and integrated process.
• The court had laid down the time period’s rule that the IB is supposed to submit its inputs and reports within the time frame of 4 to 6 weeks. And secondly, it would be appreciated if the Central Government would forward the recommendations and files within 8 to 12 weeks.
• Lastly, it was upon the Government to continue to make appointments immediately with the specific given reservations.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS CASE?