Report No. 79

III. Recommendations of Chief Justice to be Promptly Attended to

3.11. Recommendations of Chief Justice to be attended without delay.-

Complaints have been heard that sometimes a Chief Minister sits tight over the recommendation made by the Chief Justice for the appointment of judges, and this fact results in delaying the appointment. In this regard, it would, in our opinion, be necessary to ensure that whatever may be the view of the Chief Minister about the particular recommendation of the Chief Justice, the recommendation of the Chief Justice should engage the prompt attention of the Chief Minister and should not be kept pending for more than a month.

Sometimes the recommendation of the Chief Justice necessitates the exchange of correspondence between the Chief Minister and the Chief Justice. In such an event, efforts should be made to see that because of such exchange of correspondence the matter does not get stuck up. It would perhaps be appropriate that necessary reply to a letter received be sent within a week of its receipt. We feel that the outside limit of six months which we have indicated above1 should be sufficient to take into account the various bottlenecks and delays which take place at different stages.

1. Para. 3.10, supra.