Showing signs of reaching out to judiciary over the contentious issue of judicial appointments, the Government has agreed to process the recommendations forwarded by various State High Court collegiums to the Supreme Court.
Sources in the Government hinted that a list of 78 names recommended for judgeship in High Court were forwarded to the five-judge apex court collegium with a view to fill up vacancies in various High Courts. The Government is understood to have run a check of these candidates based on Intelligence Bureau reports before sending the names to the Supreme Court.
As per the established practice, the High Courts send their recommendations to the Centre which, in turn, “processes” the file such as seeking Intelligence Bureau reports on the candidates and forwards them to the SC Collegium for a decision. Based on the collegium’s view, the Centre will take a call whether to go with the recommendation or seek review.
The urgency to push forward the names has arisen over the alarming rise in vacancies that presently stands at 470, up from 443 in January this year, according to recently available data with Ministry of law and Justice.