Judiciary in India

Justice	Justice is the legal or philosophical theory by which fairness is administered
Articles	124: Establishment and constitution of Supreme court 127: Appointment of ad hoc judges 129: Supreme court as a court of record 130: Seat of supreme court 136: Special leave to appeal by the supreme court 142: SC can pass orders to do complete justice 143: Power of President to consult supreme court
Significance	Constitutional Rights and Entitlement Constitutional supremacy Rule of law Protector and Guardian of Constitution Social Justice Equality, fraternity and liberty Social harmony PIL Economic Trade and commerce Dispute resolution Governance Legislative Executive Administrative Final court of appeal Decisions are determinative Pronouncement constitute the law of the land Interpreter of the constitution (Article 147).
Facts:	3.14crore pending overall only in formal courts if we include quasi-judicial and regulatory bodies it is uncountable 2.93 crore cases in subordinate courts, 49 lakh cases, 57K in supreme court. In more than 46% case government is involved (Government litigation) Decline in the number of constitutional benches from 1950(15%) to 2010(0.12%) One criminal case every 5 second. Number of judges 20 per million as compared to 50 as recommended by LCI 70 cases per day in subordinate courts, less than 2 minutes to each case. LCI report in 2009: 464 years to clear cases with present strength of Judges 25% vacancy in subordinate courts: Delhi HC report. SC works only 188 against 225 minimum apex court rules 0.09% of GDP on Court Infra, strength of 15K acco. Against 20K strength. 40% of cases SLP in SC, reduced constitutional time
Schemes	Middle Income Group Scheme Free legal Aid Pro-bono Nyaya Mitra LIMBS: Legal information management and briefing system, web based portal. National Judicial Data Grid E-Courts, Integrated mission mode project.

Appointment of judges	In US	In INDIA
BY	PRESIDENT	PRESIDENT
RECOMMENDATION	SENATE	COLLEGIUM
SCRUTINY	SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, INVESTIGATION, TESTIFICATON	OPAQUE DONE BY COLLEGIUM ONLY
CRITERIA	NO SUCH	SENIORITY
CHECKS	LEGISLATIVE (SENATE)	NO CHECKS FULL INDEPENDENCE

Subordinate courts:
Process of appointment	Appointment, posting and promotion of district judges in a state are made by governor after consultation with the high court. Qualifications: He should not already be in the service of the central or the state government He should be an advocate or a pleader for 7 years He should be recommended by high courts Appointment of other judges is made by governor after consultation with SPSC
Reasons:	Delay in appointment (79%)

Judicial Appointment	Article 124 and 217: Appointment by the president with consultation by the CJI (no mentioning of Collegium) Collegium system: for appointment, transfer and posting CJI and 4 senior most SC judges : recommend the names to the President Evolution of Collegium: 1st judge case 1981: President can refuse the recommendation of the CJI 2nd Judge case: led to the creation of collegium system and CJI should be given the primary role in appointment  3rd judge case: led down the guideline for the functioning of the collegium system NJAC case 2015: Primacy of Judiciary in appointment is integral to the independence of the Judiciary MoP will be designed in cooperation of the Executive Merit and integrity Other provisions and standards Executive: can return on some grounds like national security etc.
Why to reform Collegium	Justice Chelameshwar opted out of the meetings of collegium, shows that collegium has some clear issues like that of opacity It is there very own creation. (favorable interpretation of constitution---consultation ----concurrance) Lacks transparency, it is inherently secretively. Corruption and Nepotism Conflict of interest: Appoint brothers Provides for no oversight due to which there are no checks and balances. There in no fixed criteria for selection Preference of seniority over merit. Delay
Need for primacy of Judiciary	Government is the highest litigant  (50%) Separation of power Independence of Judiciary Politicization
Need for independence	Checks and balances  over executive and legislature Keshavananda Bhariti: Doctrine of Basic structure Second Judges case: Functional independence
Other possible solutions	Reforming Collegium: Need for a "Consultative body" as suggested by justice Kehar which could include jurist, lawyers, or judges outside collegium to assist the collegium. Memorandum of procedure: Guidelines must be drawn for the whole procedure. not working presently Making the collegium deliberation public and annual reporting of the vacancies, appointments etc. NJAC: 6 members: 2 judge + CJI+ Law minister+ 2 eminent persons Presence of Law minister Appointment of eminent person Secratariate of NJAC is in Law ministry Veto power : 2 or more then 2 candidates can veto New Proposal: A new full time independent body dedicated for selection : recommended by THE CAMPAIGN FOR JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND REFORMS Why: Work load for selection (around 100 appointment per year) is huge for both Collegium as well as NJAC and could interfere with their functioning Transparency: procedures and functioning in public domain Objective criteria(Like BRITISH JUDICIAL APPOINTMENT COMMISSION) Member: retired judge or even a lay person to be appointed by a broad based committee of Govt.and judiciary
Other issues	Diversity in appointment is needed eg SC/ST/OBC/Women. Time bound selection process. Age limit: HC is 62 and SC is 65. Both should be increased to 70. Issue of Independence Post retirement appointments: scope for patronage. (governor) There should be a cool down period of 2-3 years after retirement or other measures like formation of a committee which shall take over the task of appointing the retired judges to tribunals or commission Need for young judges: (presently age limit is around 45-50) Law commission in one of its report shows that there is need to bring in the new judges who would bring freshness and vigour to the courts. solution: to consider a 'zone of consideration' which would consist the 5 senior most judges for the respective post. Need for data bank of all the judges for considering their promotion and transfer
Conclusion	For survival of rule of law and democracy of the country need for quick action

All India Judicial services:
Need	Under Article 312 (already contains judicial services) SC, Parliamentary standing committee and Law commission all have recommended this.
Why	HCs are already over burdened Streamlining the appointment  Open competition by independent and impartial agency Attracting the bright minds Quality of Judges at HC as 1/3rd of them come from promotion At par with all India civil services Diversity Better procedure under specialized agency Presently: District judge: appointed by the HC Lower judges: as per exam  SC: need for an All India District Judge Recruitment exam Earlier All India Judicial service was proposed but states opposed it on many grounds like Domicile, language, culture, autonomy etc But all these grounds are not valid as Civil services are performing better despite these grounds j all these issues can be sorted out by designing the exam in a special way 4800 out of 21000 posts are vacant at lower level 25 lakh cases are pending
3 solutions	problem lies in poor education, salary and training and other  need to remove inefficiencies and corruption need a special administrative wing under Judiciary to take care of these
Challenges	Federalism  it may reduce the power of the state HCs  challenge of independence knowledge of local laws, customs etc.
Way forward	Uncertainty , unprofessionalism , nepotism and corruption has to be resolved also

Male dominated judiciary	Under representation of women in judiciary High courts of India has only 62 women compared to 611 male judges
Cause	Professional hazards that women lawyers face
	In an healthy democracy, the judiciary must be mirror of society. This is not argument against merit but argument for inclusion Gender diversity will only enrich the judicial jurisprudence Will infuse public confidence Women litigant will face less intimidated in the presence of women judge Greater sensitivity to their grievances