High Court appointments: No stand-off between Executive and Judiciary, says Law Minister

Ravi Shankar Prasad made the observation in a letter to DMK Rajya Sabha MP P. Wilson

Ravi Shankar Prasad. File

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said there is no stand-off between the Executive and the Judiciary over appointment of High Court judges and whenever a difference of opinion arises, it is mutually reconciled to ensure only a suitable person is appointed as a High Court judge.

Mr. Prasad made these observations in a letter to DMK Rajya Sabha MP P. Wilson, who posted it on his twitter handle late on Monday evening.

The Minister, responding to an earlier Zero Hour reference by the MP on shortage of judges in High Courts (HCs), said as on September 1, there were 398 vacancies in various HCs.

“While every effort is made to fill up existing vacancies expeditiously, they do keep arising due to retirement, resignation or elevation of judges,” he said, adding that 48 new judges to various HCs have been appointed as on September 1.

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However, the DMK MP, who is a former additional solicitor general, tweeted that the functioning of the judiciary has been ‘crippled’ by the shortage.

“Union law minister @rsprasad writes to me in response to my question raised during zero hour speech in Parliament that there is no standoff between #judiciary and Executive but admits that as on 1.9.2020, 398 HC judges post are lying vacant [of the total strength of 1,079 in 25 High Courts) which means more than 1/3rd posts are lying vacant ! Judiciary is virtually crippled !!” Mr. Wilson tweeted.

The RS MP also shared a clip of his speech in the Upper House in which he said “it was time that Parliament resolved the stand-off between the Executive and the Judiciary over appointment of HC judges”.

The Law Minister observed in his letter dated September 28 that as per the existing Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) for the appointments, the initiation of proposal for appointments in the HCs vests with the Chief Justice of the High Court.

“There is no stand-off between the Executive and the Judiciary. Filling up vacancies of Judges in the High Courts is a continuous collaborative process between the Executive and Judiciary as it requires consultation and approval of various constitutional authorities. Differences of opinion, if any, are mutually reconciled by the Executive and the Judiciary to ensure that only apposite person is appointed as High Court Judge,” Mr. Prasad said.