CoJ to draw up calendar for recruitment of judicial officers in India

New Delhi, Jan 18 (IANS) Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar has set up a Committee of Judges (CoJ) to draw up a calendar for the recruitment of judges to subordinate judiciary that would be uniformly adhered to across the country.

Chief Justice Khehar revealed this when senior counsel Vijay Hansaria, who is amicus curiae in the matter, pointed out to the court that the matter relating to the appointment of judicial officers in subordinate judiciary has not been listed for hearing for quite some time.

Chief Justice Khehar said the committee will draw up a calendar fixing the date on which advertisements for filling up the vacancies would be issued, date on which the examination would take place, followed by interviews, issuance of the appointment letter and the actual joining date.

The committee is expected to give its report along with the schedule in two-to-three weeks' time and it will be mandatory for the states to follow the schedule.

Hansaria later said that a similar schedule was drawn up by the top court by its judgement on January 4, 2007, but the same has not been complied with by the states, including the high courts, in letter and spirit.

The top court by its January 4, 2007 judgement had said that the process for the recruitment of judicial officers in the subordinate judiciary, including for the post of district judges, would commence on March 31 and the entire process will conclude with the last date of joining for the successful candidates being October 31.

Hansaria pointed out that when the Supreme Court started monitoring the recruitment of judicial officers and judges in the subordinate judiciary, there were 20 per cent vacancies and on Wednesday, it stands at 20 to 25 per cent.

On March 31, 2016, the sanctioned strength of judicial officers and judges in subordinate judiciary was 21,017 but in actuality, there were 16,135 judges with a vacancy of 4,882.