The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the state governments and their respective high courts for delay in filling up the vacant posts in higher and subordinate judiciary and infrastructure for the functioning of the courts.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi reprimanded particularly Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Delhi for their inefficiency and inordinate delay in filling up vacancies of judges in high courts and subordinate courts.
"We want our judges, we want our judges to function. We need judges, we need court rooms, we need manpower. We will make state governments, high courts and public service commission responsible (if judges' vacancies are not filled)," CJI Gogoi said while hearing a case related to filling up of vacancies in higher and subordinate judiciary across north India.
The Uttar Pradesh government informed the bench that there were 394 vacancies in the higher judicial services of which 364 vacancies have been filled till date. 125 vacancies are expected to be filled up in 2019, it added.
The Yogi-Adityanath-led government also stated that the judicial infrastructure in the state will be upgraded by providing 371 additional courtrooms by June 2019. It also assured the bench that it will fill up the vacancy and provide adequate infrastructure for the judiciary to function.
The top court while taking into note the lack of infrastructure and staff for the judiciary in West Bengal, also warned the state that it will summon Chief Secretary if the need arises.
On the filing up of vacancies in Delhi, the Supreme Court was critical of the fact that there are 201 vacancies in Delhi, but the recruitment process was ongoing only with respect to 100 posts.
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"When vacancies are for 201 posts, why have you advertised for only 100 posts?" asked the bench from Registrar General of the Delhi High Court.
On this, the High Court Registrar General said that this was due to the lack of infrastructure.