Report No. 80

6.24. Modality of implementing.-

Question then arises as to what should be the modalities for implementing the above recommendation. There was, it may be mentioned, at one time a proposal to have a common panel of names considered suitable for appointment as High Court judges and to appoint judges to the different Courts from that common pool. View was expressed in the Chief Justices' Conference held in October 1957 that while it was quite possible to have an all-India panel of service District Judges from which selection could be made, all-India panel of advocates presented considerable difficulty. In the Conference held in January 1960 the Chief Justices expressed the unanimous opinion that maintenance of an all-India panel containing names of advocates suitable for appointment as High Court judges was not only not feasible, but also highly undesirable.

The Law Ministers' Conference in June 1960, while considering the question of the appointment of judges from outside the State, referred to the decision taken in the Chief Justices' Conference of January 1960 and requested the Union Home Minister to initiate such discussion as he might think necessary with the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Ministers. This matter was further considered in the Chief Justices' Conference held in March 1961. The Conference expressed the opinion that in view of its recommendation in respect of recruitment by competition of certain proportion of the higher judicial service on all-India basis, it was not necessary to have a panel of names for appointment as High Court judges either from amongst the members of the Bar or from amongst the members of the State judicial service.

6.25. Recommendation for All-India Judicial Service not accepted by Governmen.- The Law Commission in its seventy-seventh Report1 had recommended the creation of an all-India judicial service. The recommendation of the Law Commission in this respect was turned down by the Government of India, as would appear from the reply given in Parliament on behalf of the Home Ministry. In our opinion, turning down of that suggestion makes it all the more imperative to find out other modality to ensure one-third of the judges in each High Court from outside the State.

The outside States from which such persons be appointed should normally be in the same zone, as mentioned in section 15 of the States Reorganization Act,2 in which the State in which a person is to be appointed judge of the High Court is situated. For this purpose, the Chief Justices in the same zone may meet as and when it becomes necessary or, as a result of correspondence with each other, ascertain the names of members of the Bar and District Judges considered fit for appointment. Such of the persons from other States in the zone as are found to be suitable may be recommended for appointment as judges. Care should, however, be taken to see that reciprocity in numbers in matters of appointment of judges from other States is maintained as far as possible and that no State gets undue advance in the actual working of the scheme.

1. 77th Report.

2. Section 15, States Reorganisation Act, 1956.