All-India Judicial Service Will Help In Federal Governance: Centre

It will also facilitate inclusion in judiciary of competent persons belonging to underprivileged and marginalised communities, the Union Law Minister said

All India Judicial Service will help to strengthen the federal governance, the Central Government has said in response to a query in the Lok Sabha regarding the establishment of the All-India Judicial Service.

Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad told the House that the AIJS would promote greater national integration and knowledge of judicial administration from other parts of the country will be shared and better application of laws and procedures across the country and the harmonised procedures would, in turn, help in promoting better judicial governance.

The minister said some state governments and high courts were not in favour of creation of the All-India Judicial Service in some other cases the state governments and high courts wanted changes in the proposal formulated by the Central Government. The following apprehensions were raised by the stakeholders:

• Lack of knowledge of local language will erode judicial efficiency both in regard to understanding and evaluating the evidence as well as in pronouncing the judgment


• Erosion of control of state high courts over the district / subordinate judiciary


• Whether the All-India Judicial Service based on direct recruitment for 25 percent posts of district judges will have an all-India character.

The minister said the government has undertaken the consultative process with all stakeholders to arrive at a common ground. “All-India Judicial Service will help to strengthen the federal governance by not only attracting some of the best talent in the country, but also by bringing to the States judicial officers from other parts of the country having different cultural background and speaking other language from that of the state of allotment. It will also facilitate inclusion in judiciary of competent persons belonging to underprivileged and marginalised communities,” the minister said.

This article has been made possible because of financial support from Independent and Public-Spirited Media Foundation.