Centre must fill judicial vacancies immediately: CPI

Communist Party of India general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy has expressed grave concern over the sad state of affairs in the Indian judiciary.

In a pressnote here on Tuesday, Suravaram lamented that dispensation of justice will be impossible with mere 18,000 judges as against a requirement of over 50,000 judges. Consequently, more than three crore cases are pending in various courts proving that justice delayed is justice denied.

He also stated that in the apex court, the current pendency of cases is said to be 60,260 for a Bench consisting of 31 judges. As many as 434 posts of High Court judges remained vacant, which are sanctioned by the government and the names recommended  by the judiciary were kept pending for a long time by the Narendra Modi Government and 38.68 lakh cases are pending for want of infrastructure and resources. “The CPI Central Secretariat demands that the Union government immediately take concrete steps to solve the present crisis in the judiciary”.

Withdraw all actions against student leaders

Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy also condemned the “unjustified, provocative and anti-democratic action of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Administration against the student leaders of the University. The Administration on April 25 announced rustication of Umar Khalid and Anirbhan Bhatacharya along with a fine of Rs 20,000 for each. The JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar has also been punished with a fine of Rs 10,000 without specifying any charge against him. There are also other student leaders who have been fined”, he added.

While normalcy was gradually returning to the campus, such “anti-student” actions of the Administration will only affect the normal functioning of the university, he stated, adding that the CPI feels that the BJP, ABVP and the Union HRD Minister are behind such provocative actions and the authorities have played into their hands. The CPI urges the Administration to withdraw all actions against the student leaders and ensure peaceful functioning of the university. (NSS)