Government Clears Recruitment of 6000 Posts For Judges in Lower Courts as One Time Measure

Recruitment of 6000 Judges for District & Lower Courts in India –  Currently there are 5,400 vacancies in judges’ posts in the lower judiciary, keeping this in view, the Union law ministry is working with the Supreme Court to conduct a nationwide examination to recruit around 6,000 judges as a one-time measure. Recently, CJI Ranjan Gogoi expressed his desire to fill up all judges’ posts immediately to bring down the huge pendency of cases in district and subordinate courts. Lower courts currently have pendency of 2.78 crore cases.

Decision is still pending whether the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) or another central agency involvement in conducting the test, separately for district judges and subordinate court judges, in states and Union Territories, with due importance given to local languages for those opting for a particular state, on the lines of of NEET held by the CBSE for medical students.

Supreme Court has to take the decision on this and to issue the appropriate directive in this regard. The decision to hold the exam will be taken only after a directive is issued from the SC which is hearing a writ petition on the possibility of constituting an all-India judicial appointments mechanism, which was objected to by several states and high courts when the proposal was first mooted.

Current Status 

At present, all appointments of judges in district and subordinate courts are in the domain of state governments and high courts concerned.The appointments will finally be made by the respective state governments based on the all-India merit list and HCs will have administrative control.

The central selection mechanism is also intended to bring in uniformity in appointment of judicial officers across the country.