When will the vacancies in judiciary be filled?
Legislature, executive and judiciary are three significant pillars of constitution. For democracy to work well, there has to be good coordination between all the three pillars. They have to balance and co-exist, along with complementing each other. This is the most important requirement. But in the recent times, one rarely sees any well-coordinated effort between them. This has led to unrest among judiciary as well. Thousands of jobs in lower courts are lying vacant across the country. This has led to delay in cases being concluded.
Supreme Court has been insisting that they be filled at the earliest but to no avail. Last week Supreme Court even expressed its displeasure over the vacancies not being filled up. This is not a good development. Many posts of judges in lower courts have not been filled up. Staff recruitments are also being delayed. Considering the increase in population, courts need to add more space to their infrastructure for quick disposal of cases. Courts need judges’ quarters to be built sooner than later. The Supreme Court and High Court have fixed a time frame for this work to be completed. SC has expressed extreme displeasure over the functioning of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya pertaining to this work.
Karnataka’s time will come on December 5. Kerala, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand states are also in the same boat. Across the lower courts, there are about 2,20,836 jobs in the country. About 5,133 posts are vacant till now. Supreme Court has drawn the attention of states regarding this sometime ago and directed them to submit a report on the work done so far regarding the matter. But nothing has worked.
Judiciary is not getting as much support and facilities as the other two pillars – Legislature and Executive – get. Supreme Court has been often begging the central government to fill the vacancies at the earliest. Few months ago, justice T S Thakore had shed tears before PM Modi at an event that was organized to inaugurate the conference of chief justices of High Court, along with CMs from the states. The population of the country has increased manifold. Undecided cases growing in numbers with every passing day. Since the post of justices are lying vacant, cases cannot be concluded. And this delay should not happen since this also causes delay in imparting justice to the aggrieved.
Judiciary seeks increase in the number of justices from 21,000 to 40,000. But the government, especially executive, isn’t responsing favourably is the main grouse. This has led to thousands of undertrials languishing in jails across the country. Their futures are dark now. When justice Thakore wept over this issue before the PM, Modi had assured resolution of the issue sooner than later. But nothing has moved from then to now.
Earlier, there were ten judges to every ten lakh people. Indian Law Commission had recommended that this ratio be increased to 50. Supreme Court had given concurrence over this matter and Parliamentary committee to had said yes to this. But none of this worked to meet a logical end. Now, every ten lakh people have only 15 judges to sort out their cases. By 1987, the required number was 40 judges per ten lakh. Now the population has grown manifold. Lower courts have 2.84 cases pending. Supreme and High Court put together this number comes up to 3.5 cr in all. Majority of the cases are awaiting hearing since the last five years. Thousands and lakhs of undertrials are waiting for the next date of their hearing. At times like this, the paralysed working style of executive is condemnable. Democracy cannot be upheld by ignoring judiciary. Hence the central government has to immediately attend to this issue as soon as possible.
Though the matter as grave that the Chief Justice of Supreme Court shed tears before the PM, nothing has worked. What does that mean? The centre is callous about the judiciary. If this continues, this will cast its shadow on the entire nation and systems that work within. Human rights would be violated because undertrials have to languish in the jail owing to no hearing of their case. The government needs to wake up sooner than later over this and fill up the posts of Judges in the courts, including high court. If this can be attended to, the future crises regarding this can be averted.
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UDF leaders see local body poll trends as pointer to 2026 Assembly elections in Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Buoyed by the strong performance of the Congress-led UDF in the local body polls, KPCC president Sunny Joseph said on Saturday that the front's results indicated the people had rejected the LDF government.
According to early trends, the UDF was leading in more grama panchayats, block panchayats, municipalities and corporations than the LDF.
The local body polls were held in two phases in the state earlier this week.
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Speaking to reporters here, Joseph said the people of Kerala had extended their support to the UDF.
"We could expose the LDF government’s anti-people stance and the people understood it. The LDF’s fake propaganda was rejected by the people. The UDF is moving towards a historic victory," he said.
He said a united effort, proper preparations, good candidate selection and hard work had resulted in the Congress and the UDF’s victory in the elections.
Asked about the prospects in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, Joseph said the party was studying the matter and would comment later.
LDF convenor T P Ramakrishnan said the results would be closely examined.
According to him, the government had done everything possible for the people.
"Why such a verdict happened will be examined at the micro level. People’s opinion will be considered and further steps will be taken," he said.
He added that decisions would be taken after analysing the results. "If any corrective measures are required, we will initiate them and move forward," he said.
AICC leader K C Venugopal said the results showed that people had begun ousting those who, he alleged, were responsible for the loss of gold at Lord Ayyappa’s temple.
"This trend will continue in the Assembly elections as well. It is an indication that the people are ready to bring down the LDF government," he said.
Venugopal said the UDF had registered victories even in CPI(M) and LDF strongholds.
"I congratulate all UDF workers for their hard work. Congress workers and leaders worked unitedly," he said.
Referring to remarks made by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against the Congress on polling day, Venugopal said the voters had responded through the verdict.
"I do not know whether the chief minister understands that the people are against him. Otherwise, he does not know the sentiment of the people. The state government cannot move an inch further," he said.
He said the results indicated a strong comeback for the UDF in Kerala.
Asked whether the Sabarimala gold loss issue had affected the LDF in the local polls, Venugopal said the CM and the CPI(M) state secretary did not take the issue seriously.
"We took a strong stand on the matter. The BJP played a foul game in it," he alleged.
On the BJP's role in the local body elections, Venugopal alleged that the party operated with the CPI(M) 's tacit support.
"The CPI(M) supported the central government on issues such as PM-SHRI, labour codes and corruption in national highway construction. The CPI(M) is facing ideological decline, and the state government’s policies are against the party’s own decisions," he said.
Meanwhile, LDF ally Kerala Congress (M) leader Jose K Mani said the party could not win all the wards it had expected in the elections.
He congratulated winners from all parties and said the party would closely examine the losses and identify shortcomings. "Later, we will take corrective measures," he added.
Senior Congress leader and MP Rajmohan Unnithan said the trends in the local body elections indicated that the UDF would return to power in the 2026 Assembly elections.
"We will win 111 seats as in 1977 and return to power in 2026. The anti-government sentiment of the people is reflected in the elections," he said.
Unnithan said the people were disturbed and unhappy with the present government.
"The trend indicates the end of the LDF government," he added.
CPI(M) MLA M M Mani said the people had shown ingratitude towards the LDF despite benefiting from welfare schemes.
"After receiving all welfare schemes and living comfortably, people voted against us due to some temporary sentiments. Is that not ingratitude," he asked.
Mani said no such welfare initiatives had taken place in Kerala earlier.
"People are receiving pensions and have enough to eat. Even after getting all this, they voted against us. This is what can be called ingratitude," he said.
Muslim League state president Panakkad Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said the results were beyond expectations.
"The outcome points towards the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, indicating that a change of government is imminent. We are going to win the Assembly election," he said.
