The stand-off between the bjp-led NDA government and the Supreme Court over the former’s delay in appointing judges proposed by the apex court’s collegium, threatens to paralyse the country’s already sclerotic judicial system. On August 13, a bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur rebuked the Centre for bringing the entire judiciary to a “grinding halt” by sitting on the recommendations of the collegium. Currently, 478 judicial posts are vacant in various high courts countrywide (sanctioned strength: 1,079), and three in the Supreme Court. This constitutionally dangerous impasse has its roots in an apex court verdict in which by a 4-1 majority, the Supreme Court struck down the 99th Constitution Amendment passed by Parliament, which had proposed a six-member strong National Judicial Accountability Commission (NJAC) comprising the chief justice and two senior most judges of the Supreme Court, the Union law minister (ex officio) and “two eminent persons” to appoint higher judiciary judges. The prime purpose of the pursuant NJAC Act, 2015, passed by both houses of Parliament in 2014, was to replace the collegium system of selection devised by the Supreme Court on the basis of its own judgements in three rulings (1981-98) known as the Three Judges Cases, under which a collegium comprising the chief justice and four senior judges of the Supreme Court, took it upon itself to appoint judges in consultation with the President (advised by the Union government). The collegium system became operational in 1993 after the apex court’s judgement in the Second Judges Case. However, the BJP/NDA government questioned this schema on the ground that a judges-appointing-judges system is undesirable, and a broader consultation process involving the people’s representatives would best serve the public interest. This unresolved stalemate has resulted in most high courts countrywide working with only 40 percent of their sanctioned judicial strength, while the backlog of cases gets longer. On August 12, 2016, 22.4 million cases were pending in various courts across the country — the world’s largest judicial backlog. Though there’s an urgent need for the higher judiciary which has recently been rocked by charges of corruption and nepotism, to proactively improve the system of selecting, vetting and appointing judges, it’s also noteworthy that 34 percent of the country’s MPs and legislators are charged with serious criminal offences and are best kept out of the selection process. Against this backdrop, the admittedly imperfect collegium system is the lesser evil. Moreover, the BJP-led NDA government needs to accept that a sufficiently well-staffed and efficient judiciary is a prerequisite of attracting foreign (and domestic) investment, and exhibit urgency in accepting the collegium system. Further delay in resolving this dispute could bring the wheels of the justice system — already moving with painful sloth — to a complete stop. School Education Neglect Fallout Once upon a time not so long ago, it was the garden city of India. Over the past two decades as Bangalore’s population has grown from 4.74 million in 1995 to 8.42 million in 2015 and…
