MAY 05(WTN) - The clash between the Supreme Court and the Center came to light on Friday for delay in filling up the vacancies in the High Courts. The Supreme Court blamed the Central Government for this. A bench of Justice Madan B.B.Lokur and Deepak Gupta argued arbitrarily with attorney general K. K. Venugopal about this. The Center also questioned on the collegium for recommending only few names for appointments at vacancies in the High Courts.

Let you know that the Supreme Court is hearing cases of judges' vacancies in Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura High Courts. About 38 percent of the posts sanctioned in the High Courts are vacant, but in Meghalaya, Tripura and Manipur states, this problem is high. The judge's bench asked the Center to keep the recommendations made by the collegium, tell us how many names you have pending. On this, the attorney general said that he would have to get this information.

At the same time, attorney general Venugopal said that in the high courts, where 40 posts of judges are vacant, the collegium is recommending only 3 names and the government is being told that we are slow to fill vacancies.

On 19 April, The Supreme Court collegium had recommended the appointment of Justice M. Yakub Meer and Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar as Chief Justice in Meghalaya High Court and Manipur High Court respectively but, this recommendation has not been sanctioned yet. During the hearing, Venugopal said that names of Justice Sudhakar and Justice Yakub Meer would be considered and their appointment orders would be issued soon.

Supreme Court had taken note of the fact that because of the vacant post of judges, situation is critical in Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura High Courts. The court also noted the fact that the posts of 7 judges are approved for the Manipur High Court but there are only two judges. Similarly, the post of four judges of Meghalaya High Court is vacant, but there are two judges in this and one in Tripura compared to four posts.