All India Judicial Service: Debate Of Federalism Vs. Institutional Reform

The principal role of India’s judicial system is to protect rule of law and ensure supremacy of law. It safeguards rights of the individual, settles disputes in accordance with the law and ensures that democracy does not give way to individual or group dictatorship. With changing times, the Indian state has enacted continuous reforms in the judicial processes of the country.

• The formation of All India Judicial service is one such reform which seeks to create a centralized cadre of District Judges by transferring the recruitment and appointment powers of these judges from the High Courts and State Governments, to a centralized system as is the case with other All India Services.

History of Proposals for All India Judicial Service (AIJS)

• 1958- 14th Report of the Law Commission proposed AIJS.
• 1976- 42nd Constitutional (Amendment) Act amended Article 312 to create an All India Service for the post of District Judges.
• 1986- 116th report of Law Commission recommended the creation of an AIJS.
• 1992- SC, in All India Judges’ Association v. The Union of India, directed the Centre to set up an AIJS.
• 2013- 64th Report on the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill by the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice suggested creation of AIJS.

In November 2021, the Union government decided to give a fresh impetus to the creation of an All India Judicial Service as the Union Ministry of Law and Justice called for a state law ministers’ meeting for discussing the proposal for creation of an AIJS.

How an AIJS undermines Federalism

Although India has a single judiciary for the purpose of enforcing laws, it has a federated system for judicial administration. Even though Indian judiciary follows a pyramidal structure for adjudicating the law, the responsibility of appointments and funding for the District and Subordinate Judiciary falls upon the State Governments.

• State Governments control the power of judicial appointments to the District and Subordinate judiciary as every state has its own socio economic context and group identities, each of which requires a distinct approach to conflict resolution. Individual states are allowed to lay down norms for recruitment so that they are able to choose judges best suited to the disputes arising in their unique socio-economic context. It also leads to increased administrative efficiency.
• Thus in a country like India, with so much diversity of customs, religion and language, it is more prudent to maintain a decentralized system of recruiting judges for the District and Subordinate Judiciary since these judges are the first point of contact for millions of Indians seeking justice before Indian courts.
• Local administrators, well versed with the affairs of the state will be better informed of the kind of judges that need to be recruited for a particular region according to its unique customs or languages.
• Centralising the recruitment may affect the legitimacy of the judicial system in the eyes of local population and reduce its efficiency as Judges not familiar with the customs of the state are appointed.
• There are issues related to communication in the local language of the state in which Judges will be recruited through an AIJS.

Need for Institutional Reforms

A centralized system of recruitment of district judges will help in reducing the huge pendency of cases in district judiciary as it will address the issue of vacancies in lower judiciary as well as High Courts.

• Improvements in the Judge to population ratio will ensure speedy justice to all the sections of the society.
• There have been calls from the judiciary itself for creating AIJS. For e.g. in the All India Judges Association v. Union of India, 1992 the Supreme Court remarked that “…
• There is considerable force and merit in the view expressed by the Law Commission. An All India Judicial Service essentially for manning the higher services in the subordinate judiciary is very much necessary.”
• The AIJS, based on the pattern of IAS, will be an ideal solution for increasing the representation of the marginalized and deprived sections of society.

The lower judiciary is marred by numerous issues such as the inadequacy of the talent being attracted, varying conditions of service from State to State, unattractive conditions of service and ineffective voice of the High Court in the matter of recruitment, failure of Public Service Commissions on this front, total antipathy of State Governments, etc. On the other hand, the creation of an AIJS goes against the principles of diversity and federalism, which is a basic feature under the constitution. A middle path must be found in order to reach a consensus.