NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up High Courts and state governments for not taking enough steps to fill up vacancies in the subordinate judiciary.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, while hearing a petition concerning appointments to the subordinate judiciary and adequacy of infrastructure and manpower in the subordinate judiciary, said, "If any High Court can't do it, we will do it. We will have a centralised system. If you don't want us to do it, then you do it."
The court summoned Registrar Generals of High Courts in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and the north-eastern states.
The bench was shocked to see the response of the Delhi High Court. The bench said, "You have overshot your schedule (in filling up vacancies). Now you are saying you will do it by December 2018. But you are not making any commitment on when the appointments will be made. You have just stated that the process is expected to be complete by December 2018."
The court slated the next hearing for November 15 and directed all the registrars to appear before the bench in person.