Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Aug 22: With the State High Court and Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission continue to be at loggerheads over the appointment of Court Managers, the Law Department has extended the validity of the selection list by six months beyond current month with the hope to break the ice between the judiciary and the Commission in near future.
The process of making selection of 24 Court Managers as recommended by the 13th Finance Commission was set in motion in February last year when the Public Service Commission vide Notification No.03-PSC of 2012 dated February 24, 2012 advertised 24 posts of Court Managers. Thereafter, the interviews of the short listed candidates were conducted and on the basis of performance in the interviews coupled with the weight-age in respect of academic merit and other related parameters, the selection was made. Accordingly, the list was forwarded to the High Court for issuance of appointment orders.
However, the High Court observed that the selection of the Court Managers was not made strictly in accordance with the laid down norms and sent the list back to the Public Service Commission. The PSC while responding to the decision of the High Court mentioned that since these are the managerial posts no expert from the High Court was required. The PSC even mentioned that experts from different parts of the country were invited to conduct interview as such there was no illegality.
After going through the reply of the PSC, Chief Justice of State High Court constituted two judges committee to have detailed appraisal of the entire exercise conducted by PSC and the committee rejected the selection list for being made in violation of Clause-II of Rule 10 of Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Judicial) Rules, 1967. The committee even asked the Law Department to get fresh interviews conducted from the PSC by formally approaching the Chief Justice with the request to nominate a Judge as an expert in the interviews.
“In the latest communication to the Law Department, the PSC has stated that the issue was placed before the full Commission and unanimous decision is that there is no need for fresh exercise as no illegality of any sort was conducted in the selection process”, sources said.
They said, “this stand was then again conveyed to the High Court, which has also responded in the similar manner by making it clear that decision on the subject was taken by a committee of two Judges constituted by the Chief Justice as such the stand is reiterated and the directions passed by the committee will have to be followed in letter and spirit”.
“The Law Department, which has been landed in the peculiar situation, is planning to convene a meeting of the PSC, representative of the High Court and Advocate General in order to break the ice between judiciary and Commission so that recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission could be implemented”, sources said.
In the meanwhile, the Law Department, keeping in view the prevailing situation, has extended the validity of the selection list of Court Managers by six months beyond August 2013. “The selection list was issued in the month of August last year and its validity was till current month. In order to prevent it being turning in-valid the Law Department has issued a notification extending the validity of the list by six months”, sources added.
The creation of 24 posts of Court Managers in J&K Judiciary was recommended by the 13th Finance Commission with a view to enhance the efficiency of court management and resultant improvement in case disposal. The recommendation was made on the ground that Court Managers, with MBA degrees, would support the Judges to perform administrative duties thereby enabling the Judges to devote more time to their judicial functions.
According to the functions and responsibilities as suggested by the Department of Justice, Union Ministry of Law and Justice, in consultation with the National Judicial Academy, the Court Managers are required to establish the performance standards applicable to the court based on directives of superior courts, prepare and update annually a five-year court wise Court Development Plan (CDP), monitor the implementation of the CDP and report to the superior authorities on progress and ensure that statistics on all aspects of the functioning of the Courts are compiled and reported accurately and promptly in accordance with systems established by the High Court.
They are also required to ensure that the processes and procedures of the court (including for filing, scheduling, conduct of adjudication, access to information and documents and grievance redressal) are fully compliant with the policies and standards established by the High Court for court management.
They have also been given the responsibility to ensure that the case management systems address the legitimate needs of each individual litigant in terms of quality, efficiency and timeliness, costs to litigants and to the State. As far as quality management is concerned, the Court Managers have to ensure that the courts meet quality of adjudication standards established by the High Court.
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