Primer on All India Judicial Services

All India Judicial Services is not a panacea to the problems affecting Indian judiciary

Summary: A primer explaining the justifications offered for the creation of an All India Judicial Service arguing that they no longer hold true. It also examines the challenges and pitfalls in creating such a service.

The idea of creating an All India Judicial Services (AIJS) was first introduced by the 14th Report of the Law Commission in 1958. These recommendations have been reiterated by several stakeholders over the years and the Constitution was even amended during the Emergency to clear the decks for the creation of the AIJS. More recently, the Union Law Minister has repeatedly signalled his intention to go ahead with the creation of the AIJS in order to ensure more efficient recruitment as well as guaranteeing greater representation for marginalised communities through a system of reservations. Given the continuing interest in the creation of the AIJS, we at Vidhi have prepared a primer on the AIJS examining the history behind the proposal as well as highlighting the significant challenges in going ahead with the creation of an AIJS especially the issues of federalism, judicial vacancies, existing reservations policies, local language and customs within states. The report traces the trajectory of this discussion from 1954 till date, and how the ideas and justifications for its creation arguably emanate from outdated or incomplete information. It further argues that crucial facets regarding the establishment of an AIJS, governance structure, which cadre of judicial officers will it be applicable for, etc,. remain unaddressed in the existing discourse.

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