Chief Justice of India (CJI) and Assam’s son of the soil, Ranjan Gogoi on Friday said that the collegium is more responsible for the vacant posts of judges in High Courts.
Chief Justice Gogoi said that the collegium is yet to make more than 70 recommendations to the Centre for appointment of judges in the High Courts of the country, reports Hindustan Times.
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The Chief Justice of India further added that the central government has only 27 recommendations for appointment of judges in High Courts.
Chief Justice Gogoi said this while hearing a petition filed in the apex court regarding the appointment of High Court judges.
CJI Ranjan Gogoi told the lawyer, Prashant Bhushan, who is appearing for the petitioner that the appointment of High Court judges is being speedily cleared by the government.
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He further told the lawyer that the collegium has not been able to clear the proposals for appointment of High Court judges in a faster way.
However, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi assured the lawyer that appointments are taking place faster at present.
The petition was filed by an NGO, Centre for PIL, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan.
The petitioner sought speedy clearance of the names of lawyers and judges for the appointment in various High Courts.
The petition alleged that the central government was sitting on the recommendations of the Collegium on judicial appointments to various High Courts as a result of which, the judicial vacancies and pendency in these High Courts were going up.
The government faced strong opposition over the delay in appointment of High Court judges.
The appointment of judges in the higher courts was also a bone contention between the Centre and the Supreme Court, which, in 2015, struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act passed by the Parliament.