India News | HC Refuses to Entertain Plea for Appointment of High Court Judges
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Delhi High Court Thursday refused to entertain a petition seeking the appointment of more high court judges, saying that its collegium was already working on it.
New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) The Delhi High Court Thursday refused to entertain a petition seeking the appointment of more high court judges, saying that its collegium was already working on it.
“The High Court is seized of the matter and the process of collegium is going on. There is no reason to entertain this petition at this stage,” said a bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh while dealing with the petition by one Rakesh Kumar Gupta.
With regards to the petitioner's plea for appointment of district judges, the bench stated there was a “specific norm for their elevation” which is kept in mind when the collegium makes any recommendation.
"Already the collegium is working on it. An appropriate process has started. There is no reason to entertain this petition," the court said.
The petitioner stated that the high court was working at a strength that was lessor than its sanctioned capacity of 60 judges, which had several “negative impacts” on the citizens, the economy, and the case load.
The current strength of judges in the high court is 29.
“Justice delayed has a negative impact on the whole economy, not on just litigants. Delayed justice promotes Jiski Lathi Uski Bhains (power of the might) culture, corruption, crony capitalisation, and denial of justice to weaker sections. The final result is that the growth of the country reduces..,” the petition said.
The petitioner claimed that the high court has “more than sufficient” physical infrastructure and employees to function with its sanctioned strength.
“Maximum working Judges Strength was 42 Judges (87.5 per cent) from 17-4-2013 to 31-5-2013, thereafter it reduces gradually. From 30-6-2014, it never crosses the limit of 67 per cent. After 4-12-2019, utilisation remains below 59 per cent and now at 50 per cent,” the petition said.
The petitioner prayed that more recommendations on the appointment of judges be sent by the high court collegium to achieve their maximum capacity in the next six months.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)