No proposal to bring All India Judicial Services due to lack of consensus: Centre

The Union government has said there is no proposal to bring All India Judicial Services (AIJS) at the moment due to a lack of consensus among state governments and high courts.

Union minister for law and justice Kiren Rijiju informed Rajya Sabha about this in a written reply on Thursday (July 21).

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“In government’s view, a properly framed All India Judicial Service is important to strengthen overall justice delivery system. This will give an opportunity for induction of suitably qualified fresh legal talent selected through a proper all-India merit selection system as well as address the issue of social inclusion by enabling suitable representation to marginalised and deprived sections of society,” Rijiju said.

“A comprehensive proposal was formulated for the constitution of an All India Judicial Service (AIJS) and the same was approved by the Committee of Secretaries in November 2021,” he added.

Divergence of opinion

The minister said AIJS would attract some of the best talent in the country. “Besides attracting some of the best talent in the country, it may also facilitate inclusion of competent persons from marginalised sections and women in the judiciary. The proposal was included as an agenda item the Conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of the High Courts held in April 2013 and it was decided that the issue needs further deliberation and consideration.”

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Rijiju said there was a divergence of opinion among the state governments and among the High Courts on the constitution of AIJS. Some favoured the proposal, some were not in favour while some others wanted changes in the proposal formulated by the Central government.

“In view of lack of consensus, at present, there is no proposal to bring All India Judicial Services,” Rijiju informed the Parliament.

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2 states in favour of AIJS

In December 2021, the Union government said eight (Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Punjab) states were not in favour while two (Haryana and Mizoram) supported the setting up of AIJS. Also five (Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Odisha, and Uttarakhand) states wanted changes and 13 (Gujarat, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Goa, Tripura and Sikkim) states did not respond.

“As far as High Courts are concerned, two (Sikkim and Tripura) are in favour of the constitution of an All India Judicial Service (AIJS), thirteen are not in favour, six want changes in the proposal and two are yet to give their responses. The views of state governments and high courts were sought on the proposal,” Rijiju had told the Lok Sabha in December 2021.