Appointment of judges to HCs much faster now: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said the collegium recommendations for the appointment of judges to different High Courts was being cleared by the government and only 27 recommendations were pending.

Pointing out that the government was "speedily" clearing the collegium recommendations for the appointment of judges to the High Courts, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, sitting with Justice Sanjiv Khanna, told counsel Prashant Bhushan: "As CJI, I must say that government has speedily cleared the files and only 27 are pending (with the government) and there are 70 to 80 proposals pending with the collegiums."

Making it clear that the appointment of judges was much faster now, Gogoi said it was the collegium that was not able to clear the proposals before it.

The court adjourned the plea by the NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) for six weeks, as Bhushan contended that despite reiteration by the top court collegium, the government was sitting on the files for quite some time.

Referring to nine recommendations by the collegiums, Bhushan said despite those being reiterated, the government has not cleared them.