Report No. 58
Conditions of service of lower judiciary
10.2. Before we proceed to deal with the problem, we ought to make it clear that we are fully conscious that terms and conditions of service of the members of the lower judiciary require improvement in a substantial manner without any delay. In fact, in our Report on the Code of Civil Procedure,1 have devoted one Chapter which deals with the terms and conditions of the subordinate judiciary and with other measures, such as the setting up of a National Academy for training Junior Judicial Officers with a view to improving the quality of judicial service in that cadre.
While doing so, we were conscious that we had been asked to make recommendations about the revision of the Code of Civil Procedure and, strictly speaking, the terms and conditions of service of the subordinate judiciary were not within the purview of that reference. Besides, we were also conscious that the terms and conditions of service of the subordinate judiciary, and the steps we had recommended for the improvement of quality in the cadre of subordinate judges were constitutionally subject to the authority of the State Governments and, yet, we thought that the question was of such importance that we should, by devoting a Chapter to that problem, invite the attention of the Union Government and request them to get in touch with the State Governments and consider the recommendations made by us favourably and as early as possible.
We have made these observations at the outset of the present discussion, because we are anxious to avoid the impression that we are concentrating on the improvement of the terms and conditions of the higher judiciary and are ignoring the urgency of the problem of substantially improving the terms and conditions of service of the lower judiciary.
1. 54th Report (Cod of Civil Procedure).
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