‘Appoint judges as per state population’

Ahead of the crucial hearing on Tuesday by a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on suggestions to improve the working of the “collegium system” of judicial appointments, the All-India Bar Association has requested Chief Justice H.L. Dattu to ensure greater transparency in the “collegium system”.

The bench headed by Justice Khehar will hear suggestions from senior counsel Fali Nariman, K.K. Venugopal, Anil Divan and others and Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi for the Centre which has decided to make a preliminary objection that the matter should be heard by nine judges. In the perception of the Centre since the collegium system was evolved in 1993 by nine judges and improved further in 1998 by another nine-judge bench, any improvement on the collegium system can be done only by a bench of nine judges.

In a representation sent to the CJI, AIBA chairman Adish C. Aggarwala said such a transparency will instil confidence in the minds of the public and the members of the bar that only suitable candidates are appointed as judges both to the high courts and to the top court.

AIBA said, “There should be proportionate representation on the basis of population and number of judges in respective high courts and of all states at the Supreme Court. It has been observed that presently there are three judges from Maharashtra and Goa (119 million population) and only one from UP (215 million), even though the population of Uttar Pradesh is nearly two times the population of Maharashtra. There is only one judge each from West Bengal (91 million) Gujarat (65 million). There is no judge from Rajasthan (73 million), Chattisgarh (25 million) or Himachal Pradesh (7 million).”

Mr. Aggarwala said “ Promotion of Judges from the District Courts to the High Court and from the High Courts to the Supreme Court should be done only on the basis of seniority. If any Judge is not found suitable of being promoted to the higher Court, that judge should not be allowed to continue as a Judge and should be removed from his position. The vacancy of Judges should be advertised six months in advance from the date of vacancy and the applicants names should be published on the websites of Supreme Court and High Courts and the applicants should be interviewed by the Collegium of the High Court and Supreme Court. This will promote the transparency and in the past it has been observed that persons not having requisite qualification were recommended.”