Centre failed to ensure administration of justice department performs satisfactorily: NCP

With the Supreme Court expressing unhappiness over Centre's failure to implement the collegium's decision on the transfer and appointment of judges and chief justices of high court, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Saturday said it has been a failure on the part of the NDA regime to ensure that the administration of justice department performs satisfactorily.

"The Chief Justice of India has been lamenting for quite some time and even making public grievances as regards as pendency in cases and non filling up of vacancies. He has even suggested that according to the population proportion of our country, we need 70,000 more judges in our strength. Not to talk of such a huge number, at least 10 percent of this number of judges should come in. Apart from growing the strength, the existing strength is not even full. There are 50 percent of vacancies lying in various high courts. It is very unfortunate," NCP leader Majeed Memon told ANI.

"It is a great failure on the part of the government to ensure that the administration of justice department performs satisfactorily and people don't get disappointed in the matters of receiving justice," he added.

The apex court yesterday asked the Attorney General to seek instruction from the government.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the issue said the collegium has cleared 75 names of high court judges for transfer/ appointment but they have not been approved.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur bench that he will take up the issue at the highest level and pleaded that no notice be issued for the time being on the PIL filed by 1971 war veteran Lieutenant Colonel Anil Kabotra.

The Army veteran, in his PIL, has referred to the huge backlog of cases and vacancies in the judiciary and has sought a direction to the authorities in this regard.