Supreme Court Warns it Will Summon PMO Officials if Judges' Appointment Delayed

The Supreme Court has pulled up the Union government for the delay in appointment of judges and warned it will summon officials of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to explain if the process is not fast-tracked.

"For nine months you have been sitting over names. We can't let you scuttle the system," Chief Justice of India TS Thakur told Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi who represented the government in the court.

The AG submitted that there was no deadlock between the government and the SC over appointment of judges. The processing of names will be faster if a new Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) – which lays down the procedural system to aid the functioning of the collegium – is finalized.

The observations came on a petition concerning the delay in the appointment of judges to various high courts.

The apex court is particularly peeved at the pendency of 35 appointments it had cleared for the Allahabad High Court — the first batch of eight on January 28 and the second for appointment of 27 judges in August — both are yet to be notified.

The Allahabad High Court is functioning with less than 50 percent of its strength with just 77 judges against the approved strength of 160.

Reacting to Supreme Court's observation Union Statistics and Programme Implementation minister DV Sadananda Gowda - who earlier held the Law and Justice portfolio - said that it is not good to blame the government every time.

He said, "When I was the Law minister wrote to Chief Justice of India (CJI) saying mop finalizing will take time as we have to consult with all states. We had even said we will go ahead with existing mop at that time. Is that not magnanimity of the government then? Yes we have to take time to consult with the states. We have to look at reports from everywhere".

He also said that since January to April, 2016, 53 High Court judges have been appointed and between 2015 January to 2016 April only 31 High Court judges were appointed.

He also clarified that the government was not bent upon each and every thing. Gowda said, "In certain Intelligence Bureau (IB) reports they have made certain remarks. We have to talk to the SC again".

On summoning the PMO official Gowda said that he has not read the full judgement and this is tug of war between judiciary and executive is not good.