The President of India recently suggested that creation of All India Judicial Services will help
diversify the judiciary. The AIJS is a reform push to centralise the recruitment of judges at
the level of additional district judges and district judges for all states.
Article 312 of the constitution, as amended by the 42nd Amendment provides for the
creation of an AIJS. It also requires resolution adopted by the Council of States with a two
thirds majority and a parliamentary law.
Current Recruitment of judges
Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution of India deal with the appointment of district judges,
and place it in the domain of the states.The selection process is conducted by the State
Public Service Commissions and the concerned High Court, since High Courts exercise
jurisdiction over the subordinate judiciary in the state.
All judges of the lower judiciary up to the level of district judge are selected through the
Provincial Civil Services (Judicial) exam. PCS(J) is commonly referred to as the judicial
services exam.
Arguments in Favour of AIJS
There are many reasons for favouring the All India Judicial Services some of them are:
1. Fresh Talent: This will give an opportunity for induction of suitably qualified fresh
legal talent selected through an all-India merit selection system .
2. Representation of All Sections: It will also address the issue of social inclusion by
enabling suitable representation to marginalised and deprived sections of society.
3. Women Empowerment- It will also facilitate inclusion of women in the judiciary.
4. Reducing the Pendency of Cases: Data from earlier this year account for the bulk
of the more than 4.4 crore cases pending across the Indian judiciary.
5. Judges to Population Ratio: In India there are about 19 judges per 10 lakh
population even though the Law Commission had recommended that it should be at
least 50 per 10 lakh people.
Challenges in AIJS
There are many which needs to be resolved such as:
1. Concern for Centralisation: Dilution of the federal structure and that the proposal
does not address structural issues.
2. Lack of Consensus: There is no consensus on the proposal. Only two High Courts
agreed to the idea, while 13 were against it.
3. Issue of Language: Since in lower courts cases are argued in local language so it
will create difficulty for judges.
Conclusion
AIJS needs to be designed in a way to get rid of its shortcomings and it is able to be a
powerful technique for the vacancy in the judiciary.Adequate judges may be made to be
handiest if they’re recruited in huge energy through AIJS similar to IAS, IPS, IFS, and
different civil offerings.
In Context of All India Judicial Service (AIJS)
