All India Judicial Service important to strengthen overall justice delivery system: Ravi Shankar Prasad
In view of the existing divergence of opinion regarding the formation of Indian Judicial Service, the Government is engaged in a consultative process with the stakeholders to arrive at a common ground, the law ministry informed the Parliament today.
In Government's view, the Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad, said a properly framed All India Judicial Service is important to strengthen overall justice delivery system.
"This will give an opportunity for induction of suitably qualified fresh legal talent selected through a proper all-India merit selection system as well as address the issue of social inclusion by enabling suitable representation to marginalized and deprived sections of society," the minister said while responding to questions regarding government's plan to set up Indian Judicial Service as an all India service to fill the vacancies in the judiciary and give the representation to marginalized sections of the society.
The minister said a comprehensive proposal was formulated for the constitution of an All India Judicial Service (AIJS) and the same was approved by the Committee of Secretaries in November, 2012.
After that, the views of the state governments and High Courts were sought on the proposal.
There was divergence of opinion among the state governments and High Courts on the constitution of All India Judicial Service.
"While some State Governments and High Courts favoured the proposal, some were not in favour of creation of All India Judicial Service while some others wanted changes in the proposal formulated by the Central Government," the minister said.
According to the minister, the High Courts of Sikkim and Tripura have concurred with the proposal approved by Committee of Secretaries for formation of All India Judicial Service.
"The High Courts of Allahabad, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Orissa and Uttarakhand have suggested changes in age at induction level, qualifications, training and quota of vacancies to be filled through All India Judicial Service," Mr Prasad said.
"Rests of the High Courts have not favoured the idea. Most of the High Courts want the administrative control over the Subordinate Judiciary to remain with the respective High Courts. The High Courts of Jharkhand and Rajasthan have indicated that the matter regarding creation of AIJS is under consideration. No response has been received from the High Courts of Calcutta, Jammu & Kashmir and Gauhati," he added.
The state governments of Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Punjab do not favour the formation of AIJS while Maharashtra wants the recruitment to be done at Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) level which is not in consonance with the provisions of AIJS included in the Constitution of India, the minister said.
Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Orissa and Uttarakhand want changes in the proposal formulated by the Central Government and Haryana has stated that the proposal seems to be justified.
"The State Government of Mizoram supported creation of AIJS on the lines of IAS, IPS and other Central Services. The then State of Jammu and Kashmir has mentioned that provisions of Constitution of India for formation of AIJS incorporated in the Constitution by 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 are not applicable to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. No response has yet been received from rest of the States," the minister said.
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