SHOULD ALL INDIA JUDICIAL SERVICES BE CREATED ?
CONTEXT:
- Recently, during the celebrations of Constitution Day at the Supreme Court, President Murmu suggested for the establishment of an All India Judicial Services (AIJS).
WHAT IS ALL INDIA JUDICIAL SERVICES ?
- Article 312 of the Constitution of India provides for the establishment of All India Judicial Service (AIJS).
- As per the Article 312 (2) states that the AIJS cannot include any post inferior to that of a district judge, as defined in Article 236.
- A district judge includes a city civil court judge, additional district judge, joint district judge, chief judge of a small cause court, chief presidency magistrate, sessions judge, additional sessions judge.
- The AIJS aims to centralise the recruitment of judges at the level of additional district judges and district judges for all the states.
- The idea of creation of an All India Judicial Services was first mooted by the 14th Report of the Law Commission in 1958.
- The idea was suggested again in the Law Commission Report of 1978, which also mentioned delays and arrears of cases in the lower judiciary.
- In 2017, the Supreme Court also took suo-motu cognizance of appointment of district judges and put forward a “Central Selection Mechanism” for lower judiciary appointments.
HOW AIJS SHOULD BE CREATED ?
- As per the constitutional mechanism, if the Rajya Sabha declares through a resolution passed by minimum two-thirds of its present and voting members, that it is necessary to create a service in “national interest,” the Parliament “may by law provide for the creation of one or more all India services (including an all India judicial service) common to the Union and the States”.
- Currently, all judges of the lower judiciary up to the level of district judges are selected through the Provincial Civil Services (Judicial) exam.
- PCS (J) is also referred as the judicial services exam.
NEED OF AIJS:
- Under-representation of Women, SC, ST and OBCs: According to the India Justice Report (IJR) 2022, only 35% of subordinate court judges are women.
- No State has been able to meet the required quotas for the appointments of Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories in the subordinate judiciary.
- There is a judicial vacancies of 20-25% as a percentage of the total number of judges.
- In Government’s viewpoint, a properly designed All India Judicial Service is important to strengthen overall justice delivery system of India.
- The current recruitment system’s declining standards have also led to delaying of justice, case backlogs, and poorer judgement quality, harming the judiciary’s competence.
- AIJS will give an opportunity for the entry of suitably qualified fresh legal talent selected through a all-India merit selection system.
- It will also address the ills of social inclusion by ensuring suitable representation to marginalized and deprived sections of the society.
CHALLENGES IN ESTABLISHING AIJS:
- Comprehensive knowledge of regional language and the local dialects and customs can prove impediment for AIJS candidates of different regions.
- As AIJS attempts to induct lawyers between 35 to 45 years to the cadre of district judges will discourage the judges, as at this age they prefer to be well established in their State with a steady stream of briefs and they may not like to leave their State and family.
- There was a serious divergence of opinions among the State Governments and among the High Courts on the constitution of All India Judicial Service.
- Issues related to infrastructure: Apart from metros, positions elsewhere in the country are problematic in terms of access to basic facilities.
- There are cases of women judges not having access to even a toilet in some States.
- 26% of courts did not have separate washrooms for women, 46% didn’t have purified drinking water; 95% didn’t have basic medical facilities and 67% were not disabled-friendly
- As by removing control of High Court on recruitment process, the creation of AIJS will transfer control over state judiciary to Union government. Thus, it may also cause federal issues between High court and Supreme Court.
WAY FORWARD:
- Creation of a National Judicial Infrastructure Authority (NJIA) can give India a state-of-the-art judicial infrastructure.
- There should be a smooth career path for those who enter the district judiciary to the High Courts and the Supreme Court.
- Judges also needs to be supported and encouraged so that they can think that they are as much constitutional court judges as the Chief Justice of India by dissipating the sense of regionalism among them.
