Non-transparent judicial appointment: Letter to chief justice of AP

Respected your honour,

I would like to bring the following few lines to your gracious consideration.

Presuming the fact that your honour is well aware of the present procedure of judicial appointments in the lower judiciary ofstate of Andhra Pradesh, in this regard with all due respect I would like to bring to your esteemed notice that the present judicial appointments made under your esteemed supervision is not as transparent as it should be.

Your lordship in order to establish this point I would like to rely upon the recruitment procedure followed for the appointment of civil judges (junior division) as per the notification passed by the High court of Andhra Pradesh on 30-1-2012 Notification No.3/2012-RC.

As your lordship is well aware of the fact that as per the notification issued by the high court on

30-1-2012 Notification No.3/2012-RC the recruitment procedure goes through the following three stages.

1) Screening test which is of objective type.(qualified candidates are allowed to appear for mains exam )

2) Mains written exam (descriptive type questions). (The shortlisted candidate as per their merit will be allowed to appear in the interview).

3) Interview adjudicated by the panel consisting of High court judges of Andhra Pradesh high court.

Those candidates who score’s aggregately highest in written exam and interview will be declared to be selected but mere selection does not confer any right on a candidate; and his appointment shall be subject to verification of antecedents.

In the above mentioned procedure of selection your honour would have observed that in the first two stages of selection (where the candidate’s legal acumen is tested on the basis of their performance in answering both objective and descriptive questions of law)the candidate has the opportunity to question or appeal the fairnessof the evaluation by furnishing the copy of answer sheet in the appropriate forum of law as a documentary evidence with the intention to seek justice. However such opportunity is not available for the candidate at the stage of interview because except the panel of interviewers and the candidate no one knows what happens inside the four walls, moreover it becomes practically impossible for the candidate to prove in contrary to the decision of interviewers due to the lack of substantive evidence. No doubt that the interview panellist comprising of the sitting judges of the Andhra Pradesh high court are very eminent persons but after all, the judges are also human being’s with all the failing, all the sentiments and all the prejudices which we as common people have. Moreover recruiting a candidateas a civil judge solely on the subjective satisfaction of the judge’s panel is arbitrary and undemocratic.

I am aware of the fact that my level of knowledge is minimal compared to your honour’s infinite wisdom, however I strongly feel that an individual’s duty doesn’t end at pointing out the issues. Instead, the real duty lies in suggesting a feasible solution for the problems.Therefore,to the best of my ability, I came to conclusion that the following are best two feasible solutions to overcome the problems of transparency in recruitment of judges of lower judiciary.

Taking the aid of technology as a device to enhance transparency and to ensure fairness in the judicial appointments will not be a bad idea because technology is already playing a prime role in the governance of this nation at different platforms. I must also remind your lordship that the same technology is being used by the Indian judiciary for reporting cases in its websites and all the judges are equipped with Laptop and internetfacility, I found no reason behind not taking the aid of the same technology when it comes to maintaining fairness in the judicial appointments.

When I say “Aid of technology”, I am referring to video recording of the entire interview session conducted by the judges of Andhra Pradesh High Courtin order to select the best qualified candidate for a judicial post. Video graphing the interview session willsurelyensure fairness and will also give a ray of hope for all those candidates whocan be a possiblevictim’s of the present non- transparent recruitment procedure. Such initiation will also be a perfect response to the rumours prevailed among the public at large about the unquestioned corruption in the judiciary.

As your honour is well aware of the fact thatin order to uphold the principles of fairness and transparency the judges while performing their judicial or administrative functions, shall not take any decision without stating appropriate reasons in black and white, therefore I humbly request your honour to make an endeavour to establish transparency and fairness which will not only erase any scope of doubt in the minds of people regarding the fairness of judicial appointment by mandating the interview panel to furnish the reasons in writing for selection or non-selection of a particular candidate who appears for the interview. This particular initiative of your lordship will not only help the aggrieved candidate to question the veracity of interviewers decision but it will also help the unselected candidate to know his lacunas by which he can make himself fit for such post for future recruitments.

On the basis of the facts mentioned above I on behalf all the people who have pledged to propagate and promulgate the principles of transparency and fairnessbow in front of your infinite wisdom and humbly request your honour to bring appropriate changes in the present recruitment procedure in consistence with the letter and spirit of the Indian constitution.

Note: - The person undersigned below has the utmost faith in the Indian judiciary and its functioning. The words expressed above shall not be misconstrued as the act of tarnishing the image of any judge in particular or the judicial system.

With highest regards,

You’re most obedient,

Rohit Kumar

Student of BA.L.L.B

KIIT School of Law