Appointment of district judges: A peripheral view of a central problem

Subordinate judiciary, first point of contact for most people with formal judicial system

After a prolonged tussle between the judiciary and the executive on appointing judges to high courts and the Supreme Court, the manner of appointing judges to district courts is now in the limelight.
 

The Supreme Court in May took up a PIL (public interest litigation) petition, based on a letter from the secretary (justice) to the Union law ministry to put in place a Central Selection Mechanism (CSM) to accelerate the appointment of district judges across the country. Under normal circumstances, the Supreme Court would have used its administrative powers to persuade the high courts/state governments on this. Resorting to