Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Friday said that there is a constant tussle about who will get ultimate control over appointment of judges even as vacancies arise and appointments are kept pending for a long period of time.
CJI was speaking at the inauguration of the new premises of the Mumbai bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).
CJI Chandrachud said tribunals in the country play a very important role in helping unclog delays in courts and in aiding the overall dispensation of justice.
“One of the objectives of tribunals was to combat and battle the delays faced by our courts and it was hoped that these tribunals, which are untethered by strict rules of evidence and procedure, would help unclog the courts and aid overall in the dispensation of justice,” he added.
However, our tribunals are by and large plagued with problems and then we ask ourselves was it really necessary to constitute so many tribunals, he added.
“Because you do not get judges, when you get judges, vacancies arise which are kept pending for a long period of time…and then there is this constant tussle about who will get ultimate control over appointment of judges,” CJI Chandrachud said.
He said the members of the bar and bench (lawyers and judges) in Maharashtra should not forget the favourable conditions in which they work as opposed to the rest of the country as there is a culture of governance here.
“There is a culture of governance where the government successfully has left the judiciary alone. They do not tinker with the work the judges do. They accept outcomes that are favourable…they accept outcomes that are unfavourable because that is the culture of Maharashtra,” CJI Chandrachud said.
He added that any Mumbaikar would testify to the troubles of securing a space in Mumbai.