NCMS

The Supreme Court with the help of government will recruit more than 12,000 judges across the country to hasten setting up of fast track courts and reduce pendency of cases.
In a meeting of the National Court Management System (NCMS) presided over by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Altamas Kabir last week, the SC proposed to ramp up the strength of judiciary by more than 60% — from the current 18,000 to 30,000 over the next five years.
A senior law ministry official said the government has started the process, and convened a meeting of all chief ministers and chief justices of high courts (HCs) — to be held between April 5 and 7 — to thrash out a strategy and put the targeted recruitment on fast track.
This would be one of the biggest recruitment drives of judges so far. An allocation of Rs.2,800 crore has already been earmarked by the law ministry for both — recruitment of judges and setting up of fast-track courts across the country.
The NCMS was set up by the SC last year, and it was decided to make the judicial system five-plus free, or free of cases more than five years old. SC has estimated that the number of cases will expand to 15 crore over the next three decades requiring at least 75,000 judges.
Currently, there are over 3.20 crore pending cases in various courts. Of this, nearly 2.76 crore are in subordinate courts, while 44 lakh are pending in various HCs and nearly 60,000 in the SC.
Just before the apex court proposed a five-year target of increasing the strength of judiciary, the government had allocated Rs.80 crore for filling up existing vacancies of 2,000 judges. The new appointments were to be used for fast-track courts.
To expedite the appointment of judges, the government has also given final shape to a proposed eight-member Judicial Appointments Commission. This proposed commission will comprise, apart from the existing collegiums, the law minister, a jurist and opposition leader from the Lok Sabha. The April 5th meeting has been convened to ascertain problems faced by states and the HCs in clearing these appointments and for setting up of fast-track courts. Sources said the government will ensure that funds are made available to all states and Union Territories to establish infrastructure required for setting up of these specialized courts.
Currently, a collegium of SC and HC judges are responsible for appointment of judges. Their recommendations are final and binding on the government. To make the proposed judicial commission operational, the government will have to bring the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill in Parliament.