House panel for speedy formation of judicial service

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel has asked the government to fast track creation of All Indian Judicial Services (on the lines of civil services) without any further delay so that the judiciary gets the best talent available.

"The committee strongly feels that through AIJS the subordinate judiciary would be benefitted by the best talent in the country," said the parliamentary standing committee on law and justice, which tabled its report in Parliament on Thursday.

Standing committee chairman Shantaram Naik said, "It is the need of the hour and should be created without further delay." It will benefit both the subordinate as well as higher judiciary as 33% of judicial officers are elevated to high courts, he said.

The committee had consulted the attorney general, who in his opinion said there was no bar under the Constitution and it could be done.

The creation of AIJS has been pending for more than 30 years as successive governments deferred its constitution despite the fact that several law commission and committees favoured its creation.

Earlier, the law ministry had pushed its creation but received lukewarm response from the chief justices of high courts and the apex court judges.

In last year's chief justices and chief ministers conference the matter was discussed but the then chief justice of India Altamas Kabir had said that some states have reservations on the framework of the AIJS. "Some states feel it can't be implemented... no final decision has been taken on this," he told the government referring to the discussion on the issue during the CMs and chief justices conference. The CJI had said that it was still a concept and needed further discussion.

This was contrary to the government which claimed that there was "wide ranging support for the All-India Judicial Service" and merely required some fine tuning.