Representations on lack of transparency, objectivity in collegium system received: Rijiju in RS
New Delhi (PTI): The government has been receiving representations from "diverse sources" on lack of transparency, objectivity and social diversity in the collegium system of appointment of Supreme Court and high court judges with the request to improve the mechanism, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
In a written reply, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju also said the government has sent suggestions for supplementing the Memorandum of Procedure for appointment of judges to the high courts and Supreme Court.
MoP is a document which guides the appointment and transfer of judges in the higher judiciary.
He recalled that in a bid to make the collegium system of appointments of judges "more broad-based, transparent, accountable and bringing objectivity in the system", the government brought into force the Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014 and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 on April 13, 2015.
However, both the Acts were challenged in the Supreme Court which eventually declared both the laws as unconstitutional and void on October 16, 2015.
The collegium system, as existing prior to the enforcement of the Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014, was declared to be operative.
"Representations from diverse sources on lack of transparency, objectivity and social diversity in the collegium system of appointment of judges to the constitutional courts (SC and the HCs) are received from time to time with the request to improve this system of appointment of judges," he said.
In a related but a separate reply, Rijiju said as on December 16, 154 proposals received from high courts were at various stages of processing between the government and the Supreme Court Collegium.
"While every effort is made to fill up the existing vacancies expeditiously, vacancies of judges in high courts do keep on arising on account of retirement, resignation or elevation of judges and also due to increase in the strength of judges," he said.
As on December 16, against the sanctioned strength of 34 judges, 28 judges were working in the Supreme Court leaving six vacancies to be filled. Against the sanctioned strength of 1,108, 775 judges were working in the 25 high courts, leaving 333 vacancies to be filled.
He pointed out that recommendations from high court collegiums are yet to be received for 179 vacancies in high courts.
Amid a standoff between the government and the Supreme Court Collegium over the appointment of judges, a parliamentary panel had recently asked the Executive and the Judiciary to come up with an "out of box thinking" to deal with the "perennial problem" of vacancies in high courts.
The committee also said that it is "surprised" to note that the Supreme Court and the government have failed to reach at a consensus on revision of the Memorandum of Procedure for appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the high courts, though the same is under consideration of both for "about seven years now".
The committee expected the government and the judiciary to finalise the revised MOP, which is more efficient and transparent.
On November 25, the government had asked the Supreme Court Collegium to reconsider 20 files related to appointment of high court judges.
The government had expressed "strong reservations" about the recommended names.
Out of the 20 cases, 11 were fresh cases and nine were reiterations made by the top court collegium.
The government has returned all the names related to fresh appointments in various high courts on which it had "differences" with the Supreme Court Collegium, sources had said.
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EC dismisses scope for wrongdoing at strongrooms; prohibitory orders around Kolkata counting centres
Kolkata (PTI): A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee spent hours at the EVM strongroom of her Bhabanipur constituency alleging possibilities of malpractices, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal on Friday asserted there is no scope for wrongdoing at the counting centres.
Following tensions around two counting centres in Kolkata late on Thursday, police clamped prohibitory orders on gatherings outside all seven strongrooms in the city.
Stating that round-the-clock CCTV monitoring of strongrooms was in place, Agarwal dismissed the allegations as "baseless".
TMC spokesperson and Beleghata constituency candidate Kunal Ghosh said that party workers and poll aspirants were keeping a strict vigil at the counting centres, where the EVMs are stored in strongrooms, upon directions of party supremo Mamata Banerjee.
"There is no scope for any wrongdoing given the arrangements made to secure the EVMs. The Centres have been kept under thorough CCTV coverage and their live-streamed footage can be seen from outside," Agarwal told reporters.
"One should have reason and evidence for making allegations," he said, maintaining that there were no grounds for levelling charges of EVM tampering or pre-counting malpractice.
Two counting centres in Kolkata witnessed high drama late on Thursday evening after TMC leaders alleged a lack of transparency and possible malpractice at the strongrooms housing sealed EVMs of the assembly polls, which concluded on April 29.
Mamata Banerjee herself landed up at the Sakhawat Memorial School counting centre and stayed put there for about four hours. She emerged from the premises past midnight and warned against any attempts to tamper with the counting process, demanding greater transparency.
TMC leaders and candidates Sashi Panja and Kunal Ghosh held a sit-in outside the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra counting centre on Thursday evening, alleging unauthorised activities inside the strongroom amid the absence of TMC agents.
Matters came to a head after a large number of supporters from both TMC and BJP camps gathered outside the venue, shouting slogans till they were dispersed by security forces.
The EC, however, dismissed the claim, clarifying that poll officials were engaged in the task of segregating postal ballots as per due process and the strongrooms remained secure, asserting all political parties for the mandatory segregation activity were duly notified.
On Friday, Kolkata Police imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS around all seven designated strong rooms in the city.
As per the order issued by Police Commissioner Ajay Nand, the restrictions prohibited the assembly of five or more persons within a 200-metre radius of each strongroom, along with a ban on processions, demonstrations, and carrying of weapons or explosive materials.
The measure, which aims to prevent any breach of peace, violence, or disturbance during the storage of ballot papers and polled EVMs, will remain in force until the commencement of counting on May 4.
Besides the two counting centres in question, the prohibitory orders were also clamped around the Hastings House complex, APC Polytechnic College, St. Thomas Boys' High School, Ballygunge Government High School and the David Hare Training College counting premises.
A senior police officer said enhanced security arrangements have been made at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra, the counting centre for several assembly seats in north and east Kolkata housing EVM strong rooms.
"Additional CAPFs and armed police forces have also been deployed under the supervision of an additional commissioner and a deputy commissioner of police," Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Kolkata, Rupesh Kumar, told reporters after visiting the area.
Expressing apprehension that unauthorised movements might occur when a section of postal ballots is brought in the evening, Kunal Ghosh said on Friday morning that the party's polling agents and candidates have been alerted about the matter.
Minister Shashi Panja, who also arrived at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in the morning, maintained that "transparency" should be ensured for all strongroom activities.
Ghosh told reporters on Friday that though they had seen some movement in a strongroom that allegedly stored postal ballots, there was no such movement on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, Banerjee's challenger at Bhabanipur and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari took a dig at the chief minister for her late-night visit to the counting centre.
"I want to reassure the people of Bhabanipur and of West Bengal that the TMC candidate and outgoing chief minister was prevented from taking any additional advantage. Despite her best intentions to the contrary, she wasn't allowed to act in violation of rules," Adhikari wrote on social media platforms, posting a picture of Banerjee sitting at what appeared to be an area outside the counting centre strong room.
"Till such time she was present there, my election agent, advocate Surjyanil Das personally positioned himself at the spot keeping a tight watch on her so that she isn't able to take recourse to improper means," he added.
Security forces kept a strict vigil in and around counting centres and strongrooms in Kolkata and other districts where EVM machines used in the state assembly elections are stored, an official said.
Sakhawat Memorial School in south Kolkata's Bhabanipur, which saw high drama till the early hours of Friday with the chief minister spending several hours at the counting centre, wore a peaceful look in the morning with security personnel guarding the area.
