39th Chief Justices' Conference: CJI Requests Chief Justices of HCs Which Have Vacancies To Forward Names For Elevation At The Earliest
While delivering the welcome address at the 39th Cheif Justices' Conference today, Chief Justice N V Raman requested Cheif Justices of High Courts which have vacancies to forward names for elevation at the earliest.
"I request the Chief Justices of High Courts, which are still having number of vacancies,to forward the names for elevation at the earliest", the CJI said.
The CJI said that he is happy to note that the response from some of the High Courts has been extremely encouraging. "Due to our collective efforts, we could fill 126 vacancies in various High Courts, in less than an year. We are expecting 50 more appointments. This remarkable feat could be achieved because of your wholehearted co-operation and commitment to the institution", he added.
Justice Ramana also said that one of his first communications after becoming the CJI to Chief Justices of the High Courts was about the filling up of vacancies. "I have also requested all of you, in our very first online interaction, to expedite the process of recommending names for elevation to High Courts, with an emphasis on social diversity", the CJI said.
Justice Ramana said that in the past year, nine new judges were appointed to the Supreme Court and 10 new Chief Justices to High Courts. Justice Ramana thanked the Collegium for its cooperation.
The Chief Justice listed out the six agendas for discussion at the conference as follows:-
1. Strengthening of IT infrastructure and connectivity at all court complexes pan India on a priority basis.
2. Human Resources / Personnel Policy - Needs of district courts.
3. Infrastructure and capacity building: Institutionalising the mechanism for augmenting and creating state-of-the-art judicial infrastructure.
4. Institutional and legal reforms.
5. Appointment of High Court Judges.
6. Emoluments of High Court Judges and augmenting post retiral benefits of High Court Judges.
The CJI also said that during the Covid-19 pandemic, the judiciary could evolve stable online systems to make sure that the functioning of the courts is not adversely affected. "We did our best to promote access to justice. We have even managed to introduce innovative faster system in the Supreme Court during this period", he said.
As per a press release about the conference, the 'Chief Justice Conference-2022' aims to address and resolve the issues concerning the judiciary and review the progress made on the Resolutions passed in the previous Chief Justices' Conference-2016 and consider further steps that need to be taken to improve the justice delivery system.
