NEW DELHI: Chief Justice N V Ramana on Saturday said the government has assured that the names recommended by the Supreme Court collegium a fortnight ago for appointment as new chief justices of 13 high courts would be cleared in one or two days and emphasised that speedy appointment of judges could help lessen the burden of pendency.
Speaking at the launch of pan-India legal awareness campaign at Vigyan Bhavan, Justice Ramana said, “Since May onwards, we have recommended 106 persons for appointment as judges and eight for appointment as chief justices of various HCs. The government has cleared some. The law minister said the rest of the recommendations would be cleared within one or two days”.
On judges’ appointments, the CJI has set a record. Within five months of taking oath as the 48th CJI, Justice Ramana-led collegium has recommended over 100 names for appointment as HC judges, eight new CJs for HCs and transfer of five CJs from one HC to another.
If the CJI was expressing a grievance about delay in appointment of judges, law minister Kiran Rijiju presented the government’s concern about delayed disposal of commercial disputes hurting investor confidence and increasing litigation cost.
The Union government had cleared the nine names for appointment as SC judges within a week of SC’s August 17 recommendation. However, the recommendations for appointment of new CJs of HCs and transfer of CJs of five HCs have been pending with the government for the last 15 days.