The AIJS proposal was again discussed in meetings held in 2017, including a session with the Parliamentary Consultative Committee in March 2017 and the Parliamentary Committee on the Welfare of SCs/STs in February 2021. The matter was intended to be included in the April 2022 Joint Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts, but could not be added to the agenda.
NEW DELHI: The Union Law Minister, Arjun Ram Meghwal, informed Parliament on November 29 that the proposal to establish an All India Judicial Service (AIJS) is not progressing due to a “lack of consensus” among key stakeholders. He pointed out the differing opinions between state governments and High Courts as the main reason for the deadlock.
The views of both state governments and High Courts were solicited regarding the proposal, but a divergence of opinion was observed. He further explained that the matter of creating a Judicial Service Commission to aid in the recruitment of district judges and the review of judicial officer selection processes was raised during the Chief Justices Conference in April 2015.
It was resolved then to leave it to individual High Courts to find appropriate methods for filling district judge vacancies within the existing system.
The AIJS proposal was again discussed in meetings held in 2017, including a session with the Parliamentary Consultative Committee in March 2017 and the Parliamentary Committee on the Welfare of SCs/STs in February 2021. The matter was intended to be included in the April 2022 Joint Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts, but could not be added to the agenda.
As there remains no agreement among the major stakeholders, the Law Ministry confirmed that there is currently no consensus on the AIJS proposal.
The Law Minister also mentioned that Article 312 of the Constitution permits the creation of an AIJS at the district judge level, and a comprehensive proposal for its establishment was approved by the Committee of Secretaries in November 2012. This proposal was subsequently included as an agenda item in the April 2013 conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices, where it was decided that the issue required further consideration.
As of November 21, 2024, the Supreme Court of India has two vacant positions against a sanctioned strength of 34 judges. At the High Court level, a total of 364 positions remain unfilled across 25 High Courts. The Allahabad High Court has the highest number of vacancies, with 79 unfilled posts, followed by the Punjab & Haryana High Court (32 vacancies), the Calcutta High Court (29 vacancies), and the Bombay High Court (26 vacancies).
In the lower judiciary, there are 5,245 vacancies nationwide. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of vacancies at 981, followed by Gujarat with 535 vacancies.
As of November 15, 2024, the number of pending cases in courts across the country has shown concerning trends. While the number of pending civil cases has decreased by 66,678, criminal cases have risen by 6,18,803. The total number of pending cases in district and subordinate courts stands at 4.53 crore (45.3 million), with criminal cases accounting for 3.43 crore (34.3 million) and civil cases totaling 1.09 crore (10.9 million).
The states with the highest number of pending cases are Uttar Pradesh, with over 1.15 crore cases; Maharashtra, with 54.22 lakh cases; and Bihar, with 36.06 lakh cases. On the other hand, several states have seen a reduction in case pendency. Kerala reduced its pending cases by 96,306, Gujarat by 28,272, Madhya Pradesh by 41,282, and Rajasthan by 18,251.
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