Criticism has started to flow in towards the Modi Government regarding the lack of judges in the courtrooms. And the criticism is led by the Chief Justice of India TS Thakur. In a statement, he has been found stating that there are 500 job opportunities for the judges and but most of the posts have been left vacant.
TS Thakur has mentioned that only 121 appointments have been made, but there are more proposals left waiting in the pipeline. And the current ruling government of India has not taken much of an initiative to fill up the vacancies.
He has been quoted saying, “Tribunals are not equipped and are lying empty. Today a situation has come that when no retired Supreme Court judge wants to head the Tribunal. I am pained to send my retired colleagues there. Government is not ready to give proper facilities. Vacancy apart from infrastructure is a major concern for the Tribunal.” The Chief Justice of India, TS Thakur further added, “’I have in the past written to the government stating that unless the rules are amended the problem will not be solved. I had said that the Chief Justices of High Courts too should be made eligible for appointments in the tribunals. There may be a situation where an SC judge may not be available to head these tribunals.”
There have been occasions previously when the Supreme Court has gone on to take a jibe at the ruling government for not being able to fill up the vacant high court posts in Karnataka. And the latest attack from the CJI regarding the vast number of vacant posts is bound to put the Narendra Modi-led Indian government under a bit of pressure.
Not only that the recent development has the ruling government taking on a direct clash with the apex court regarding the recruitment process of the High Court judges. Thakur has also been found to be saying, “Advance ruling is not having its chairman, Armed Forces Appellate Tribunal is without a chairman, competition commission without chairman.”
Now with this new development, it remains to be seen how the Indian government led by Narendra Modi reacts to this jibe from the Chief Justice of India TS Thakur. And we should all wait for the reactions to come in from the government which might come in very shortly.
